Children of Shadows
by dazedkitten
Summary: ...Blonde child and Darkhaired one two beautiful children... Children of Shadows, Epilogue: Finally, Adrienne thought to herself in the quietness of her mind, finally I’m free to live a life of my own. Complete in 42 chapters.
1. Prelude

Prelude

Year 2006 Common Era

~*~

Blonde child and Dark-haired one; two beautiful children, awful fathers, whoever they were. Whatever would she do?

Hermione Granger shivered in the bright sunlight. The warmth that sat on her skin didn't seem to penetrate the chill that lay deep within her. There seemed to be nothing wrong with either, unfortunately. The blonde baby opened her deep blue eyes and smiled at nothing in particular- she was far too young yet to be able to focus her pretty eyes. The dark child in the crook of her other arm opened her matching eyes to her sister's gentle cooing. Hermione sighed, and continued to just look at the children in her arms. 

"Do you have names picked out yet, Hermione?" Ginny was standing protectively over her- she was the perfect midwife. 

Hermione didn't know what to say. She hadn't had the heart to terminate the pregnancy, yet she had hoped throughout the entire pregnancy that something would go wrong and the child would die. Not a nice thought for a mother, but she hadn't exactly been a willing participant. Hermione moved her legs, winced at the sharp pain that still resided in her hips, glanced up at the eager face of Ginny. 

"I really haven't thought about it, Gin. What do you think?"

Ginny's eyes lit up. "How about we try a naming charm? Most people have already picked out names for their children, so I've only tried it a couple of times. It picked out gorgeous names when I did try it, though. Shall I?" Ginny looked like a three-year-old being told that she would be getting her favourite toy. Hermione nodded wearily. She didn't have any better plan.

Ginny muttered the charm, the latinic words tumbling out of her mouth with what sounded like much-practiced pronunciation. Hermione knew that this wasn't necessarily the case- Ginny was a charm at Charms. The phrases swirled in her ears, 'Adrienne,' and the words spun out of her ear and settled over the little dark-haired girl. Then the next word spun in her ear, 'Lianna,' and circled to spread over the blonde baby's chest. Hermione smiled at the beautiful names, and told herself to remember to look up what the names meant. 

Ginny looked at Hermione, and she nodded. "They're beautiful names, Gin. Where do they come from? From the children, or from the charmer, or from the magic itself?"

Ginny looked down, her face colouring a little. "They come from the charmer. Mum always asks me what I'm doing reading baby name books, and this is why. It's just such a shame when the name doesn't fit." Her eyes had lit up again now, her eyes pinned on Hermione, "Suzie, one of my colleagues, doesn't: she was asked to do the charm, and the name came out as 'Linda'. How plain!" Hermione chuckled at Ginny's righteous indignation. Ginny grinned at herself as well, and the babies began making happy noises. 

"Are you right with them now, Mya? I've got to get home, or mum will be finicky again. You're right with everything?" Ginny looked so anxious for her, Hermione thought it would probably be good to reassure her, but she just couldn't find it in her to lie. 

"No, I'm not sure. Would you… would you be able to stay over and tell me what I should and shouldn't do? I'm really not ready for all this. Not at all." Hermione felt tears pricking her eyes painfully, and she fought to keep them inside. She looked down at the beautiful children in her arms, wondering just how she was going to cope. 

"I'd love to! I'll just Floo mum so she knows where I am, and then we'll get right to it!" Ginny looked so enthusiastic, Hermione smiled with her. Ginny jumped out of the room, bouncing back in a few moments later with quill and parchment.

It was unfair. Ginny, who was in every way the perfect mother, was single, and still living at home with her parents, even though she was three years out of school. Hermione looked at the girl whilst she was penning the letter to her mother. The girl's auburn locks were cut short in a pretty shoulder-length bob, her green eyes and eager face intent on the parchment as she scratched the words down in her rather messy handwriting. Suddenly, Ginny looked up, catching Hermione's intent gaze. Hermione blinked, realising that she had been staring. 

"Mya, do you have Floo powder?" 

Hermione nodded. She gave the girl directions. She returned quickly with the green crystalline powder in her hand. 

"Go on, feed the darlings. I'm sure you can figure out how to do that?" Ginny winked as she moved to Floo the letter to her mother. She walked out of the room, leaving Hermione alone again with her children.

Hermione looked into the podgy, reddened faces of her daughters. It wouldn't do to punish the daughters for the sins of the fathers. She lifted up her top, baring her breasts, swollen with milk. She placed a child to each, with the blonde child closest, the dark-haired one lying beside her sister, head-to-toes. The girls closed their eyes, suckling contentedly. Ginny returned to see Hermione looking in wonder at her two daughters resting at her breast. She smiled. Hermione would do okay.

~*~

The beginning of another story. Wherever will it go?

Dazed*kitten


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Year 2012 Common Era

~*~

"A teaching placement?" Hermione turned to look, startled, at Dumbledore. The man was more than old- he was ancient. His eyes had lost all pigment, becoming the pale blue of age, and now were beginning to cloud over also. Wizards may live longer than normal men, but the magic didn't make them immune to aging. 

"Yes, Hermione. Again, we are in need of a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." He was still well spoken, but his voice was raspy, the crackled voice of paper-thin skinned elders. His thin mouth stretched outwards in the equivalent of a smile. "I will be resigning at the end of this year, and I'd like to see you settled before that. I understand about your girls," Hermione didn't even ask how the man knew- he seemed to keep invisible tabs on all the happenings of past as well as present students. "I don't expect it to be easy, but you're the best for the task- you always were, and always will be." Dumbledore looked intently at her with his watery blue eyes. 

"I know, Albus." He had insisted that she call him Albus. It seemed very odd for her to be calling him by his first name. "I just don't know that I'd be able to spend sufficient time with the girls if I'm teaching as well."

"My dear, I know it will be hard, but you are my only chance. This is my last act as Headmaster, officially. And Minerva will love having you here. All the staff will adore the girls, and think of the library…" Albus' eyes twinkled, and Hermione smiled wistfully. The books were a good drawcard. 

"Okay, Albus. I'll come on Monday." Albus smiled, and patted her maybe-just-slightly-too-fleshy arm with his alarmingly thin hand. The skin sagged, as though his flesh had simply melted away, leaving him bones in a skin sack. Hermione placed her hand over his, reassuringly. "And I'm sure the girls will love having you as an honourary grandfather." Albus smiled even wider, and Hermione had the fleeting thought that his skin may split. It held, and the smile was worth it. Albus stood, and kissed the top of her head.

"I'm glad, Hermione." And he apparated back to Hogwarts.

~*~

Lianna on one side, Adrienne on the other, Hermione trundled up the once-familiar path through the Hogwarts grounds. Lianna, her tininess at five still a mystery to her mother; and Adrienne, already up to Hermione's waist. Both complained of the walk, though, and Hermione wasn't exactly upset that she was made to pause regularly in the uphill climb. She seemed a little out-of-shape. Oh well, nothing like a huge, drafty castle to slim you down to size, she supposed. 

"Mama," Lianna tugged on Hermione's hand, "it's so big!"

Hermione had to smile at her daughter's obvious statement. It _was_ large, and must seem even larger to the tiny little girl. She pulled both girls in for a hug, whispering little assurances to them that they wouldn't get lost, that the magic itself wouldn't allow it. Hermione kept her face sure, even though it was her greatest fear. Adrienne grasped her hand a little tighter when they stood to continue, although whether this was to give or receive comfort, she didn't know. 

Far too soon, Hermione and her twin daughters were standing in the huge entranceway to the castle. 

"It is big," Adrienne finally said. Her warm dark eyes scanned the huge staircase, and squinted to try and see the roof, which Hermione was still unable to make out. Lianna huddled in closer. 

It certainly was a change from the tiny apartment that they had all lived in for the first five years of their lives. Hermione hustled her little family down the large hallways to the Great Hall. She was sure that the other teachers would be in there. 

The doors opened to a very empty Great Hall. The tables were not set, and looked remarkably bare for it. The teacher's table had only a few settings- apparently most teachers went elsewhere for the summer holidays. Hermione felt her shoulders slump in relief. She took the girls, and sat down in the settings that she was sure were for her and the girls. After a few minutes of silence, Minerva walked in. 

"You're here!" She exclaimed, and almost ran to her. "Oh, I wasn't sure if you'd come. I'm so glad you're here… and these must be your darlings?"

Single parents were frowned upon in the Wizarding Community, by and large, but Minerva seemed to be a closet liberalist. That, or she knew of the circumstances of her pregnancy. 

Either way, Hermione knew that she had an ally, and possibly an aunt for her children. Both girls had shied away from this strange-looking woman with pointed hat and long robes, but as Hermione introduced them, seemed to begin to work off their apprehension. 

"Minerva, this is Lianna," Hermione motioned to the tiny elfin-faced girl, and Minerva stroked the girl's cheek. Lianna smiled, lighting up her immediate area. "And this is Adrienne," Hermione indicated her tall, dark girl, and Minerva put on a face of mock-seriousness.

"Adrienne," she said, holding out her hand solemnly. Adrienne pulled the smile out of her face, and firmly shook the woman's hand. But after a moment of this, Adrienne also broke out into an all-out smile. Minerva unbent slowly. 

"My dear, I do believe that you need to eat. Most of the teachers go home for the holidays; or at least on holidays. There's only myself, and Albus, and Poppy and Argus. Albus is rather restricted in his movements- and Poppy is clucking over a new batch of Pepper-Up; I don't think that Argus is pleasant company at the best of times- and believe me, holidays are the best of times, no children to mess up his halls," Minerva chuckled at this, "so I will stay with you. As it so happens, I am rather hungry myself- reviewing the syllabus will do that to a person." She pulled out the chair beside Adrienne and seated herself.

"I'm not young anymore. Not that I have been for a long while. But I'm beginning to feel it more and more. My bones ache. 

"Lunch," she commanded her plate. Hermione was struck with the picture of her first ever Transfiguration class, where Minerva had transfigured the desk into an animal with just such a commanding tone. Hermione watched her girl's startled faces as lunch apparated onto their plates- thick stew with crusty bread, hot from the oven. Hermione reminded herself to introduce her children to the House Elves later. 

Conversation flowed, and soon enough, all four were full and feeling lethargic. 

"I'll take you to your rooms. We just had them transfigured this week- I hope that the furnishings are okay. I didn't know quite what to do with them, so I took a few liberties. I also put in a bookcase- I'm sure that the fees that we pay you will enable you to buy a few of the things." The woman stood, placing a hand on the table to help herself. Hermione longed to help her former Head-of-House, but knew that the gesture, though appreciated, would be turned away. 

They walked through the winding passages, and although Hermione knew vaguely where she was, she knew that the girls were getting hopelessly lost. 'Tour Guide' would be her appointment for the next few weeks, she supposed. 

Finally they arrived at a spot of blank wall. Minerva turned to the wall, and to the astonishment of the children, spoke a password ("_Home sweet home_"), and the stone seemed to melt. They stepped through, and the wall re-formed behind them. The girls were wide-eyed, both. 

Hermione was instantly pleased with what Minerva had made for them. There was a main room, with a round mahogany table and six chairs ("In case of visitors, dear"), cupboards and sink to the back, facing a window, showing a small garden outside, with a small tiled strip, then warm dark-red carpet running through the rest of the rooms. There was a ceiling-to-floor bookcase against the left-hand wall, and in the right wall were three doors. There were comfortable chairs beside a fireplace in the wall beside where they had just entered. The girls ran to see their rooms, and exclaimed when they saw them.

Hermione walked to look into Lianna's room- it held a raised double bed with whispery curtains and white linen. There was a chair beside a beautiful desk, with shelves above it, on the wall. On the opposite wall was a walk-in robe and an apparently fake window, as the direction of that wall should have faced the corridor. Hermione smiled at her child's delight. Lianna jumped onto the bed, and Hermione pulled out a tiny suitcase from her pocket. She expanded it back to normal size, and Lianna ran to put her things in the robe, suddenly more than willing to do housework. 

Hermione moved to see Adrienne's room, and encountered her tall child still standing in the doorway. Hermione looked to see what was holding her there- and saw that the room was just perfect for her child. 

The bedhead was settled against the left-hand inner corner, instead of in the middle of the back wall, as Lianna's had been. There was a walk-in robe on the very left-hand side of the back wall, and a desk beside this. There was a rather large bookcase, already with a few books, and beside that was another door, that turned out to be the entrance to the girl's shared ensuite. Lianna's head poked through the door,

"There's a door through my robe!" She exclaimed quietly. "Oh! How come you get a fireplace?" Lianna immediately queried, and, sure enough, in the right-hand wall was a fireplace, complete with chair. The entire room was warm reds, which made the room look like a furnace while the fire was going. 

"Well, dear, I gave you a window, and I gave your sister a fireplace." Minerva's eyes sparkled. Hermione expanded Adrienne's suitcase on her bed of plush red fabric. Adrienne pulled back the coverlet, and discovered that the sheets underneath were white. Adrienne's face was beaming. She looked up at Minerva, too enchanted for words. 

Hermione left the girls to their rooms, and went to explore her own. Minerva, it seemed, had done her homework. 

Hermione's room was larger than the girls'. The bedhead was pushed up against the right-hand wall, and there was a large desk beside that. There was a large bookshelf in the right-hand corner of the back wall. A door led to her ensuite. A door led to her walk-in robe. A door led to the outside garden; apparently it wasn't a fake window in the kitchen. A fireplace burbled quietly in the wall to the left of the entryway, and a large window looked out into the garden. Hermione walked dazedly into the garden.

The path was cobblestone, and the garden was well established with magical as well as normal herbs. There was a fountain, and a paved area with chairs and table. Hermione looked around, not quite sure whether to believe her eyes or not. The garden was full of medicinal plants- Hermione would have no trouble teaching the girls all about Herbology and Potions well before they came to school officially. 

Hermione turned to look at Minerva, eyes and mouth wide open. 

"Enjoy it, Hermione. We want you here for a long time." Minerva just smiled sadly at the gawking girl. Hermione managed to close her mouth and stumble forward to hug Minerva. "Meals are prepared by the house elves- just ask for dinner, and they'll give it to you. You're too thin, darling." At this, both Hermione and Minerva began to chuckle. 

Hermione pulled back from the comforting embrace of her employer. "Thankyou," was all she could manage to get out. Minerva just smiled, and left Hermione to her girls. 

~*~

Hermione Granger was nothing if not driven. Within the next three weeks of summer holidays, she had her entire year's syllabus planned out. Lianna and Adrienne had become friends with the house elves almost as fast as they could eat, and Hermione no longer felt bad about letting them roam the castle, so long as they were rugged up. The girls loved this, and were soon more acquainted with the castle than she was, despite having been here for her entire schooling. She just hadn't had the time to explore as thoroughly as they; besides, why would you need to, when you've got the Marauder's Map to help you out? 

All meals were held together, and Hermione loved to see her girls happy: they were eating well, and had endless hours of amusement playing with Peeves (he ended up with just as many things thrown at him as he threw himself- but he acquired all the blame, of course). Argus was horrified at this turn of events- children? All year round? Who had thought up this torture? It wasn't like he was getting any younger! – But even he learned to deal with the girls, if he didn't like them overmuch.

Minerva had her share of visits from the girls (often from behind tapestries into her rooms that covered secret passageways). They both giggled when they told Hermione the stories of their visits- it seemed that Minerva was a more than adequate baby-sitter. 

And Albus loved to see them all, sitting by his bedside. He told them stories; ones that made Hermione blush, leaving the children with blank, confused faces; and ones that had all of them chuckling. And Hermione loved to see his face light up, just as it always used to. The defeat of Voldemort seemed to have taken all out of him, but he continued on for the children's sake. Now he was fading away, as all magical people do, his skin almost translucent already. 

"I won't stay a ghost, you know. I'll keep fading right out." He had told her one afternoon. "And when I fade away completely, then I'll finally be able to sleep properly." Hermione knew that Albus' dreams were still haunted by visions of that final, bloody battle. She knew: she had them as well. She had patted his hand, kissed his forehead and gone- she didn't know what to say. What do you say to a man who has seen more summers than she ever would? A man who lasted to the end? 

~*~

--The first chapter of many. Don't forget to review so I have some idea of what's going on inside your lovely head. Yes, even your review can count! Thanking you in advance,

*kitten


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The girls, it seemed, were in for a nasty surprise in the week that the teachers returned. Hermione was absolutely alarmed to see her two children rush, breathing heavily, into her arms. Behind them came a tall, dark haired man, looking very, very annoyed.

"I'd be appreciative if you would keep your meddling rats out of my rooms," Snape snarled at her from the doorway. Hermione felt her vision begin to go red, before she caught herself, breathed deeply and stood slowly. 

"Hello, Snape. I haven't seen you since… well, since my days as an Auror. You remember those days?" 

Snape's mood instantly changed. His face instantly drained of all colour, before filling again with a shameful flush. He looked at the two little girls shaking behind their mother's legs. He looked back at Hermione. He gulped and turned, fleeing the now-silent room. Hermione shuddered and sat down, pulling her girls into her lap. 

They knew better than to say anything.

~*~

"She'll tell us when she thinks we're ready, Li. There's no point in rushing her. I don't think I want to know just yet, anyway." 

"Oh, but Ri! Maybe she kicked his butt, or something! He's not very nice, you know. Maybe…"

"Maybe nothing. Kicking his butt wouldn't make him look like that. And I don't want to know what would. Stop thinking about it, Li. Go to bed." Lianna slunk out of her sister's bed, trying not to think about what had happened between her mother and that scary dark man ('surely she'd have kicked his butt?').

Hermione pretended she didn't hear this conversation. She knew she'd have to tell the darlings one day, but not today. Not this year. Not this century, if she could help it. 

~*~

Now that all the teachers were back, they took dinner with the entire staff body. The Great Hall still looked empty, but the teacher's table was as full as ever, with three extra faces in addition to those who were normally there. 

Hermione was surprised to see the teaching body almost exactly the same as when she had left. The one addition was a greying woman called Marjory Varimont. She was taking over Minerva's classes, as Minerva had taken on Headmistresship this year. Albus had handed it to her a year earlier than he had planned. But then, who plans for death? 

They were the talk of the table for many a mealtime. Hermione noted with malicious delight that Snape shrunk down in his seat at the darkest end of the table whenever her little family was talked about. She was careful to hide this, however: it just wouldn't do for her to be seen displaying open dislike for one of her fellow staffmates. 

So Hermione enthralled herself in the little conversations of the table, and the girls allowed themselves to be spoiled shamelessly. They'd smile a little to each other, in between being complimented by whichever teacher was seated beside them at that moment. Lianna took a particular liking to Flitwick, who was almost as tall as she was. She'd wait until he was leaving just so that she could give him a big hug, just so she could see how much she'd grown. Hermione let the girls lap up the attention- next week, the entire castle would be packed with people, and they would hardly get a word in edgeways. 

All too soon, the week was up, and it was the Monday night of the Sorting Feast. Hermione had already conversed with Minerva as to what to do about the girls, and it had been decided that they would stay with her. After all, they would be in less mischief if they could be seen, Minerva had said with a smile. 

So, here they were, facing the Great Hall full of children. Lianna and Adrienne were peering over the table so intently that Hermione had to remind them not to disturb the dishes- she remembered the time she had moved a plate before the dinner feast, and the pie that was supposed to be resting on it had somehow landed where the plate _had_ been, not where it was. A mess, surely enough, and one that didn't warrant repetition. 

The First Years were herded in under the watchful gaze of Varimont, and the Sorting Hat began its song. Hermione didn't hear much of it, as she was trying to identify the children standing in line. 

It was a bit of a game, but one that took her attention off the staring faces of the children off the dais. A little strawberry-blonde girl that could be the child of Percy and Penelope was the only child that she could recognise. Of course, eleven years hadn't elapsed yet- her year had yet to produce old enough offspring to sort, even if they'd been married and borne children their first year out of school. Hermione nearly snorted at the image of Pansy Parkinson hanging off the arm of a stony-faced Draco Malfoy, begging to let her marry him. Her face was streaked with tears, and someone should have told her that she didn't get any prettier when she cried. 

Finally, the Sorting Hat finished its annual song, and it settled back onto the stool. Varimont called the first name ("Andrews, Ingrid"), and they were off. The tables were soon roaring ("Ravenclaw!"), and Hermione's girls were amazed at the noise. Lianna put her hands over her ears within the first two minutes, and it wasn't long until Adrienne followed suit. Hermione felt her own ears begin to shudder under the strain of the noise. Soon enough they were done; and after Minerva stood and welcomed them all, the plates on the tables filled to overflowing with food. 

The house elves had outdone themselves this year, with just about every food imaginable present; the house elves seemed to have found international cookbooks. If they knew how to read, Hermione whispered to herself. The girls were eating almost faster than they normally did, and Hermione herself felt compelled to eat a little of everything. She reminded the girls that there was dessert too, and their plates miraculously pushed food back onto serving trays. Hermione ghosted a smile at them. 

The puddings were spectacular also, and before long, Hermione and her little family were very, very full. "We'll have to go swimming tomorrow!" Hermione whispered to the girls, who giggled. Then, the feast was over, and Hermione was standing. 

"This is Professor Granger, your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. She has two daughters who will be staying with us, so, if trip over them, you'll know who they are. This is Lianna, and this, Adrienne." Minerva introduced them, and they waved to the polite clapping from the floor. Then they seated themselves, and proceeded to ignore Minerva's other comments. They remembered to rise again when the students did, and watched as the houses filed out neatly. Hermione remembered her first feast with a grimace- she had been so annoying!- before grasping her daughters by each hand and leaving. 

The room was cosy-warm when they arrived there. Hermione tucked the girls in, kissing them goodnight gently before retiring to her own bed. She'd have her work cut out for her tomorrow; better get a good night's sleep at least.

~*~

Another chapter. Another day. The dream lives.

*kitten


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Classes were not as bad as she had imagined them to be. She managed to keep control of the children, and her first class was seventh years, who were wonderful. Then second years, then finishing up with fourth years; her best day yet. Admittedly, it was her only day yet- she had first years tomorrow, and that should be trying enough. Another day, Hermione thought to herself. She slumped down into a chair at the round table in the main room of her apartments, pushing her diary open on the table. She looked at the homework she had assigned, read the notes that she had given the children, and read the assigned chapter of the book. Just in case she'd missed anything first time round. 

Her study was interrupted by Lianna rushing into the room. 

"Mama…" Hermione turned to her daughter, seeing her tiny face flushed from running. 

"Yes, dear?"

"Umm… Well, Ri's a bit stuck. I can't get her. Would you be able to get her?"

Hermione smiled, and stood, following her precocious little girl out of the seemingly-solid wall. She had fixed the wall to be like the wall at King's Cross: it seemed- and was, if you didn't believe it wasn't- to be solid at all times. Her children had come in with bruised appendages for a while, so she had asked a suit of armour to stand next to the door, so the girls knew where it was. He was also good safety- Hermione had asked him very nicely to stop anyone with conspicuous motives. So far, he'd had nobody to deal with, which was very good.

Lianna sped down corridor after corridor, until even Hermione herself didn't know quite where she was. She wished that she had the Marauder's Map with her, which somehow decoded the magnificent castle's secrets and made all pathways open. 

Finally, they found Adrienne, high up on a sealed balcony, with no way down. 

"She already tried to jump, but there's something stopping her from doing that, too." Lianna looked totally perplexed, and more than a little frightened for her sister. Adrienne, on the other hand, was terrified. She cried out when she saw Hermione before subsiding back to whimpers. She was curled up beside the balustrade. 

Hermione looked suspiciously at the balcony. She levitated (wonderful trick she'd learned in Auror training, and completely unlike broomsticking- she was completely in control the whole time) to see how Ri had gotten there. 

The wall was completely bare. It looked like a trap, and one meticulously set. Hermione tried to levitate into the balcony, but the field, which Li had spoken of, stopped any traffic. Hermione growled. 

A thud of wood striking stone made Hermione's head twirl. 

"I see you've found my mouse trap." Severus Snape, it seemed, didn't take lightly to snooping, even of the most innocent nature. Hermione glared at the man, refusing to be intimidated. 

"Ah, Snape. How wonderful. I'm glad you've found my daughter for me. Of course, the fact that she's frightened witless is not your fault, so I won't even mention it. If you'd care to return her, I'd be very thankful."

Snape sneered at her, and put a hand on Lianna's shoulder. The girl squealed and rushed to stand underneath her mother. Hermione levitated her daughter next to her. "Keep your filthy hands off my daughter." 

The coldness of the words made even Ri, who was still shaking, look curiously at her mother. Snape merely blanked his face, and turned to walk out.

"Snape!"

He stopped.

"My daughter?"

He laughed a cold laugh. "Catch," he replied. The balcony suddenly disappeared, as though it had never existed. Hermione gasped and fumbled before catching Ri still a safe distance from the ground. Hermione lowered her little family to the ground, fuming inside. She looked at her terrified little girls. 

"That is a cruel, heartless man. I used to work with him, and he has never forgiven me for upstaging him. Now, I have taken the job that he would have loved- Defence. He can't take it out on me, so he takes it out on you, even though you have done nothing to him. Avoid him at all costs; if you can't find me, get Aunt Minerva. Let's go."

Hermione marched her trembling little girls to their rooms, tucked them in and gave them a tiny dose of a dreamless sleep potion that she kept for herself. She kissed them as they fell asleep. Then she allowed her fury full reign. 

~*~

Minerva was startled out of her marking by a loud clash of door against the unoffending wall. Minerva was just as startled to see Hermione as the cause of this angry display. Her hair was almost crackling with rage, and her eyes were glinting dangerously. Her face was flushed. Her hands clenched at her sides. 

"Minerva, come with me." Minerva stood apprehensively, and then had to rush a little to keep up with her impassioned Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Hermione walked with purpose, with determination. 

They rounded a few more corners than Minerva knew, and before she knew, Hermione had stopped in front of her. Minerva nearly fell into the back of her. 

"Watch." Hermione commanded, and with a flick of her wand, pulled ghostly after-images out of the walls themselves. Minerva goggled with horror at the scene that Hermione had walked into a few minutes ago. When the display was over, Hermione turned to glare at her former teacher and friend, her gaze granite. 

"Let us go and visit the perpetrator, shall we?" Minerva's mouth thinned down to an almost invisible line, and if she could have seen her face, she would have seen the same fury that lit up Hermione's face burning in her own. Hermione flicked a command at the room, and the transparent images curled into nothingness. Then both women were stalking down the corridors.

~*~

Severus Snape was asleep in his comfortable chair, beside the empty fireplace. The fire suddenly flared, and Snape knew that his inner sanctum had been breached. He stood, wand grasped in his long fingers, to welcome his uninvited guests. 

Into his room burst two very angry women- the woman he'd been trying to get over his guilt of for what felt like far too many years, and the Headmistress, his employer. Snape immediately remembered the little trap he'd set for the little mice, and regretted ever setting it. He'd almost relented when he'd heard the dark-haired child crying, but had wanted to make his point. And she was safe enough, after all- he had created that spell. 

Now he realised just how foolish his whim had been. He inwardly berated himself, keeping his face unamused for his guests' sake.

"Yes?" He managed to ask in an uninterested tone. Many years of training were being called on here. The women both looked murderous. The younger one was, however, more outraged.

"You know why we're here," She hissed. She stalked towards him, her movements carefully studied and almost as intimidating as she'd intended them to be. She raised her wand-arm- with wand attached- to point into his face. 

"My children," she whispered, "are not playthings for you to torment; nor are they weapons for you to try to turn against me. My children are- right now- so terrified of you, they have nightmares. If you have a problem with me, find other ways of telling me, such as speaking to my face. It's not that hard. But then, what more did I expect of an immature, overgrown bat who has no concept of the real world?" Hermione spat the words, spun and stormed to the door, where she paused, turning to wait for Minerva, who now took her turn.

"There is always a reason for what I do- and when I fire you, it will be for a good reason. I just thought you should know, Severus, that those girls are a good reason." And then the older woman turned on her heel and walked out of the room also, without his having uttered a single word. Shaking his head, Snape sat down to fall asleep in his chair again.

~*~

TomFeltonsSexiiWun: Ok, I'll admit that I borrowed the idea from a different book that I read- I have no idea if it could actually happen. Basically, they're not identical twins, so there's two separate embryos released. Theoretically, it's possible, if close enough together, for sperm from two different donors to fertilize the different embryos. And it's fiction, so I can do what I want!! Thankyou so much for reviewing!!


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Year 2018 Common Era

"Li? Ready to explore again?" Adrienne stood at the foot of her twin sister's bed, and to Lianna's bleary morning-eyes, showed as nothing more than a fuzzy splotch of darkness against the light colours of her room. Flopping her head back down, Lianna gathered her strength and surged out of bed, rolling and flipping her legs out to catch her as she fell out of bed. She stood up a moment, letting the air around her settle back down to normal colours, then dressed, followed her sister to the table, ate the breakfast the House Elves provided, and went to stand at the door. 

"Ri, mama said that we're to be careful with the corridors today- it's midsummer's; do you really think it's a good idea to be going exploring today?" Ri's eyes flashed, and Li inwardly smiled at her sister's fire. 

"Lianna Meridian Granger, we are eleven years old, and have lived in this castle for six years now. We know how to get around without any trouble. Now stop being a worry wart, and let's go!" Ri stormed through the wall. 

Li sighed melodramatically, following her sister out into the cold castle corridor. 

Once she was out and exploring, Li soon dismissed her trepidation. The girls traipsed through corridors that only appeared when you swore at them, and through doors that only opened if you stroked them sweetly; roaming the castle was just so interesting: there was always a new room to explore, a new corridor to run down, a new staircase to a new tower. Lianna thought sometimes that the castle just enjoyed giving them something to do, enjoyed entertaining them. 

They crossed paths with a few ghosts, who smiled and waved as the girls rushed down the corridors. The portraits loved chattering with the girls also, and they always knew all the gossip from the castle.

Adrienne suddenly stopped in front of a door. Lianna bumped into the back of her, before turning to look at the door as well. 

It was a door that evoked fear in them, even now. The tall mahogany door with its poor, chipped handle that was scratched from many a collision with the wall, was one that terrified the girls, if only because it housed the man they feared above all else- even Filch wasn't as scary as this man. 

Ri turned to look at Li, and as one, they turned and fled. They rushed right back to their rooms, to see their mother sitting at the table, waiting for them.

"Good exploration today?" The girls sat down at the table, nodding. 

"We found a tower that overlooks the lake. The squid was nowhere to be seen- must have still been in bed."

"I didn't think it did go to bed," Li added, "but it wasn't there, so I guess it must. And we found a new secret corridor- Sir Caddogan scared a dragon out of its picture- well, he sort of shouted at it, and it turned to chase him- and we asked the portrait to open, and there was a passage! So we followed it. It came out in the Library, in the restricted section, right at the back. We went out to Madam Pince, and she looked really angry," 

"But we asked if she had the latest Ars Alchema for you, so she went and found it for you- here it is." Ri produced the periodical from the inside of her robes, "so we kept exploring, and we ended up in the dungeons, and decided to come home."

Hermione raised an eyebrow at Ri's last statement- "did you end up at Snape's door, again?"

Both girls went a little pink and looked down, casting guilty glances at each other. 

"We didn't mean to," Ri finally looked up, "We just sort of ended up there. You know we're terrified of him." Lianna nodded emphatically at her sister's statement. Hermione sighed.

"He will be one of your teachers this year, you do know that? And I'm almost certain that he can smell fear." Hermione made a little face before continuing, "So I think we'll have to start getting you used to being around him- I want him to see that Grangers are not to be intimidated." Hermione's face was hard, and Lianna nodded at the little spiel. Adrienne looked at her mother, and at her sister. She sighed, and nodded, too. 

"I think that it's time for you to start learning Potions form the master, darlings!" Hermione's face lit up mischievously, as if this were a great joke. The girls leaned in to hear her plan.

~*~

"You're joking me, surely." Snape's face was a mask of disgust. Minerva smiled whilst he couldn't see her, enjoying her little joke just as much as Hermione was. 

"Now, Severus, do I ever joke with you?" 

"No; I don't have a sense of humour, apparently."

"Well, now, do you really want to give away such a wonderful opportunity? The girls will be wonderful students- they're already terrified of you. What more could you want?"

Snape snorted, and glared at Minerva. "A little talent would be nice."

Minerva laughed out loud, for more than an appropriate amount of time. Snape became disgruntled.

"Well? What's so funny?"

"These girls are the daughters of the most advanced witch to ever grace Hogwarts with her presence. I wouldn't worry overmuch about their ability- and they already have their supplies for the beginning of the school year. It's only a couple months, Severus. They won't kill you, I'm sure." Minerva's face clearly showed that there was no choice involved in this- he would be teaching the little Grangers, whether he felt like it or not. A growl escaped his throat, as he turned his back on Minerva. 

"Tuesday and Thursday Afternoons. Three O'clock. For two hours. I expect the chits to have a basic grasp of what the subject is about. They will be practical lessons. Now get out." 

Minerva smiled as she left, and once she was out of hearing distance, she burst into peals of impish laughter. 

~*~

"Ok, mama, we understand. This is the third time you've told us. We've read the books _twice_; we'll be fine! Now can we go?" Lianna was desperate to get her sister and herself out from under her mother's watchful eyes, where they could fret properly. It was twenty to three, Tuesday afternoon. 

"Ok." Hermione said grudgingly, "Off with you, then. If he gives you more trouble than you can handle, tell me."

"Yes, mama," the girls chorused, and romped out the door. 

"She worries too much. Aunt Minerva will squish him if he so much as growls at us!" Lianna was in high spirits. Ri seemed a little anxious, but she smiled too. 

They arrived at the door they had always shied away from, five minutes ahead of time. Lianna quailed, so Adrienne picked up her hand and knocked firmly. The door opened slowly- by magic, it appeared- and they walked in carefully. 

The inside of this room was not what they had expected. It was similar, Adrienne realised, to the Apothecary where they had bought their basic Potions ingredients, with jars of unidentifiable content lined up along every wall, and a locked storeroom behind the large desk at the head of the room. The desks were rather stained, but despite this, there was very little smell in the room. Adrienne surmised that the low temperature might have something to do with this. 

Snape was seated at the large desk, and looked up only when Lianna coughed loudly.

"You're here. I suppose I'm going to teach you then, aren't I?" His tone was frosty, and Adrienne fought hard against her instinct to cringe. Instead, she channelled her discomfort into anger, drawing her lips into a thin line, much as Aunt Minerva did. 

"Yes, Professor. That is what we are here for, after all."

Snape gave a short, disbelieving bark that may have passed as a laugh from another mouth. "I don't delude myself with pretensions where you are concerned. Your mother probably had ulterior motives for these lessons, though I'm in no place to speculate. We will begin with a forgetfulness potion. The ingredients and formula is on the blackboard," 

And when the girls looked, indeed it was. After reading the first year textbook twice, they had a basic grasp of the potion, also.

Lianna looked up at the dark man, "are we to do this individually, or should we complete one potion between us?" He looked a bit startled, but soon recovered.

"_Professor_. And you will work individually." Lianna cringed a little, but managed to nod and lit her cauldron flame quickly.

Adrienne collected her ingredients, then set up her cauldron also. She smiled a little at her sister, then submerged herself in the potion.

Snape floated around the room, straightening jars, re-writing labels and shuffling through a little card-box in the corner of the room. He finally came over to look at the work of the girls. Lianna's potion was average, completed as by one who could follow instructions well. Snape set her to bottling the potion. There were always uses for a good forgetfulness potion: it was much more versatile than an _obliviate_ charm. When he looked at Adrienne's potion, he snorted.

"Sir?" Adrienne looked up from the potion she had created, at the face of the man who scared her most.

"Your mother seems to have been teaching you at home. How many times have you brewed this particular potion?" Adrienne was startled at the hidden praise, unintended as it was.

"I have only read the formula of this potion, sir. This is my first attempt at creating it."

Snape snorted, but said nothing more; he waved a hand at her negligently, before stalking off to another part of the classroom to continue his catalogue of his materials. Lianna looked over at her sister, her face asking what the encounter had been about. Adrienne shrugged her off, and bottled her potion.

"We are finished, sir." Lianna spoke, and looked at the clock. They still had fifteen minutes before their tutorial period was over. 

Snape looked up, and sneered. "No real potions master- nor student, for that matter- leaves their pots unscrubbed. Clean up, and do the rest of the dishes while you're there." The girls looked disappointedly at the pile of cauldrons that had miraculously appeared in the corner of the room. They set about scrubbing, and only escaped the room some ten minutes after their lesson had officially ended. They left without word. Snape seemed most unperturbed at this.

"I don't think we'll forget to wash our cauldrons again!" Lianna commented as they hurried down the corridors back to their rooms. "My hands will be wrinkly for hours!"

Adrienne smiled indulgently at her sister, "And I believe we'll probably attempt something a little more challenging on Thursday."

~*~

Dinner was an interesting meal, with Snape close-mouthed about the tutorial lesson that all the teachers somehow knew about. Upon realising that Snape would reveal nothing, the teachers began drilling the girls intently on their lesson. With no pre-planning, the girls hadn't had time to corroborate stories, nor to agree on what to reveal and what to keep to themselves. Surprisingly, the teachers found that they were just as close-mouthed as their enigmatic tutor. 

"Was it as scary as you'd thought?" Aunt Minerva asked Lianna, after pudding when most of the teachers had sought the warm confines of their rooms.

"Well, it was a little scary, but there were two of us, and only one of him. And Ri was really strong," Lianna smiled at her sister, who gave her a little grin in return. 

"He's not half as intimidating as he pretends to be," Adrienne pronounced firmly, "He's just a big bat with no heart. He'd never kill us, or do anything irreversible. And what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Apparently," she added wryly, looking at her mother. Hermione laughed at her favourite maxim on the lips of her child. 

"If you're not careful darling, you'll end up sounding just like me!"

"Oh, don't worry mama, that day's long off. My voice is far too high, although I'm sure that Snape could give me the recipe for a potion to make me older: just so you can check, you understand." The small collection of family at the table laughed, and broke apart for the night.

"Sleep well, Aunt Minerva," the girls cried as they raced off towards their rooms. 

"Yes, sleep well, Minerva," Hermione echoed as she sedately followed her children. 

~*~

Wednesday was a fiasco.

Adrienne ran into a suit of armour and broke her nose- which would have been alright if Lianna hadn't insisted on trying to fix it, and instead transformed her poor sister's nose into a bunch of whiskers, before promptly forgetting what word she had uttered, making a counter-curse near impossible to find. Madam Pomfrey was rather annoyed, and Hermione was livid. 

"A bunch of whiskers, you say? Well, Poppy, I don't know if I have a counter-curse for that. And she doesn't know what she said? Even better!" The twins could hear their mother's voice from the fire around the corner. It was angry, but somewhere Adrienne was sure she heard amusement, under the exasperated tone of her mother's tight words. 

"I'll ask Flitwick and Marjory in to help me. We'll see what we can come up with."

Lianna whimpered, and Adrienne absently wondered what her mother's words meant. Surely whatever Lianna had done was reversible? Her mouth hung open, but not because she was surprised: with no nose, she needed her mouth open to breathe. She looked at her whiskers, sprouting from the spot where her nose had been, some minutes prior. They were white and spindly, rather like a cat's. She looked at Lianna, whose whole being was remorseful. Lianna saw the look, misinterpreting it.

"I'm sorry Ri! I never meant for this to happen! I'll never do magic again… I'll never ever do anything again, I'll sit at home and think and hope that I'll never hurt anyone again. I'll hope that I'll die before I hurt anyone again!" And she promptly burst out in tears. Ri nearly laughed, but somehow perceived that it may not be quite appropriate at this moment. She placed a hand on her sister's shoulder. Li picked her face up, reddened and swollen, and jumped, howling, into her sister's arms. Adrienne did laugh then, and Li was soon laughing too, despite her crying eyes. 

~*~

Hermione walked into the Hospital Wing, and was immediately struck with the sound of loud laughter. Severus Snape was standing beside Poppy Pomfrey, both of whom were looking curiously around the corner. Hermione cleared her throat, before walking around the corner to see both of her daughters in gales of laughter on the bed; both were holding their stomachs, and each other, and were physically shaking. Ri looked positively ridiculous with a bunch of tapering white whiskers protruding from her face where her nose should have been, and she was having a hard time of breathing and laughing at the same time. 

_What can I do with these two?_ Hermione thought, looking at them in despair. Shrugging, she sat down with her hysterical children and joined in their laughter, wrapping arms around both of them. Varimont and Flitwick's eyes joined Snape and Pomfrey's peering around the corner. 

"Do you know what's gotten into those three?" Flitwick asked, curious.

"Well, I do believe that it's called hysteria- or it could just be a logical assessment of the situation. It is particularly funny, after all." Marjory answered, smile ghosting around her face.

Snape sniffed with disgust, and Poppy just sighed. The laughter around the corner ended slowly, and Varimont and Flitwick rounded the corner. Hermione was sitting between her two children, arm around each. They looked positively domestic, excluding the bunch of whiskers protruding from the place where Adrienne's nose should have been. Poppy walked in, scanned her wand over the girl's face, announced it to be a transfiguration hex, and walked out, a little huffily. After all, this was a serious problem, and they were just sitting around in hysterics. In a worse situation, the girl could be dead by now! But the anger drained out of her as she turned back to look at the three females sitting on the bed. Perhaps it was a little amusing. Poppy sighed, thought of her own life, and began shuffling around in her storeroom, rearranging. Snape sneered at the corner, and walked back down the stairs. Poppy watched him as he left, and was surprised to see that his gait was defeated, and his shoulders slumped. _One of these days,_ Poppy thought,_ he's going to get himself in big trouble- him, or someone he loves_.

~*~

Ah, the wonder of it all. Another chapter up today.

*kitten


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

_Thursday,_ Snape thought to himself with a disgusted snort. _I have to try and teach those little dress-up dolls again_. Somehow, within the last forty-eight hours, Severus Snape had managed to convince himself that Hermione Granger's children were hopeless incompetents. Tuesday's lesson's success had faded into the background in the light of the blonde little Granger's attempted fixing of her sister's nose. The thought of the sprouting whiskers made him shake his head in disdain and contempt. They may be eleven, but they sure as hell weren't ready to be working on the kinds of potions that he had in mind for today…

For their part, the twins were a little on the nervous side as well. 

"Stop fidgeting, Adrienne! Lianna, if you play with your hair any more, it'll fall out! Do you really want Snape to see you're afraid of him?" Hermione was at the end of her tether, and it was all she could do to tie a knot and hang on. "He'll pounce! How will you ever learn how to deal with people who have animosity for you? Argh!"

Spinning around, Hermione walked out of the room, leaving her two, restless girls standing, startled, in the middle of the room. 

"Was it something I said?" Lianna asked, making Ri smile nervously at her sister. 

"I wonder what's gotten into her? She's more nervous now than she was on her first day of classes!"

"How do you remember her first day of classes? We were five!"

"Well, I remember that she was nervous, that's all. It sort of stood out."

"I don't remember her being so nervous, just that she was a little jittery. This is something different. She's trying to prove something."

"Oh, really? Well… well…" Adrienne trailed off, caught in what she wanted to convey. "Well," she said hesitantly, "I agree. She's trying to prove something. I wonder what it is?" Both girls peered curiously out the kitchen window into the garden, watching Hermione pulling out weeds with her bare hands, even though her wand was sitting on the table. She moved jerkily, flinging the little plants into a pile. When she had completed a bed, she stood up, brushed her hands off a little, grasped her wand and obliterated the pile of leaves. A thin wisp of smoke lifted hesitantly off the scorched pavement. Hermione mouthed some words, and another flicker of light healed the blackened pathway. Then she moved on to the next bed. The girls pulled their heads back out of the window. 

"Yup, really wants to prove something."

The girls trotted out the insubstantial wall, down to the dark dungeons.

~*~

Nearly three o'clock. Snape forced himself to sit at his desk, and look at his lesson plans again, although he didn't need to. He had done _this_ so many times it was second nature: when to place the snarl, when to pivot and stare at the child scuffing his shoes, when to slam his hand down on the desk. The words of his opening speech were well rehearsed, and he knew exactly how menacing he was. 

What he didn't know how to do, however, was deal with these two girls. The knock came at his door, and he motioned for the door to open. It did so, without his getting up. The girls walked in and stood in front of him at the desk, while he ignored them, thinking quickly about what they would do. Suddenly, he looked up, glaring at them, as though they were the cause for the entire world's evil. 

"Sit down. The instructions are on the board. Stop pestering me. I will inspect when you are done." And with a glare, the girls walked- calmly- to their seats. They didn't appear to be afraid of him. He would have to remedy that, somehow. Without a great deal of overt intimidation, or he'd have Minerva and the pests' mother breathing down his neck. Snape pondered this while he appeared to be reviewing his syllabus. 

Lianna looked at the board in dismay. "Regeneration Potion?" She mouthed silently at her sister, who shrugged and began to walk towards the supply cupboard. Lianna could find nothing inside herself that was ready to create a third-year level potion. Madame Pomfrey used a vamped-up version of this potion to regrow skin, and she was pretty sure that it was also a variant on this theme that composed Skele-Gro, which would regrow bones inside the human body. She'd never know, of course, because there was a patent on it. 

Adrienne placed her sister's ingredients on her table, and moved to seat herself before her own bench. She sat to the left of her sister, where they could maintain eye contact. Ri risked a glance at the imposing man sitting at the table. He didn't appear to be looking at his syllabus much, although he had a quite nasty grin on his face. Adrienne found that she wouldn't be looking forward to Potions very much when she began school.

Reading the instruction for the fourth time, Adrienne began to complete the steps. Lianna read the instructions and didn't know where to start. She sighed, resigning herself to a quite average potion. Oh well, she thought, can't win them all.

Adrienne moved in somewhat of a daze. She knew what she was doing, but the exact timing of everything was something she just felt. The measurements of ingredients and force required to stir the congealing potion were also instinctive. After quite some minutes of such instinct, Adrienne's potion was created. Sniffing it, she knew that it was perfect. She retrieved a volumetric flask from the wall and labelled it. Then she bottled the syrupy potion and stoppered it securely. Not forgetting her last lesson, she cleaned her cauldron- by hand- in the sink at the back of the classroom. It wasn't that she didn't know the incantation to cleanse the thing; but that such things might contaminate any potions she created in her cauldron. Ri accepted this knowledge without thinking, and it was only later that she realised that this wasn't something anyone had told her. 

Lianna finished her potion thanks to hard work. It was completed, and not bungled, but she was dripping sweat, and her head was beginning to ache from extended concentration. She thanked her sister for the labelled flask that was handed her, and once she'd bottled the potion, she placed this on the desk before their unwilling tutor quietly, and returned to her seat. She washed out her cauldron as she'd observed her sister do, and the twins then sat calmly, waiting for their teacher to dismiss them. 

Snape looked up from his daydreaming to see two tightly stoppered completed potions before him. Having fully expected to see two smoking cauldrons and two whimpering children, nervous enough to have not disturbed him, he was greatly annoyed. How dare these children take his fun away? He snarled, before picking up the potions to inspect them. 

The first was average. It was clear, but slightly too thin. The colour was consistent, but a little too light. Nonetheless, if this had been created in class, he would have been happily surprised. 

The second: well, Snape wouldn't believe it. It was perfect. He wondered idly whether he could have created this potion so well. He swirled it a little, held it up to the meagre light and set it down quickly, frightened he may drop it. They were both labelled in clean print. Glancing at the clock, he was surprised to see that it was nearly five o'clock. He glared at the girls, before waving at them to leave. They walked out, careful not to hurry, and shut the door softly behind them.

Once they were gone, Snape picked up the potion again to marvel at it.

~*~

"I wonder what he was thinking about when he had that nasty smile on his face. What do you reckon, Ri? I think he was trying to find ways to torture us without mama knowing, or Aunt Minerva." Li looked completely at ease with her answer. Ri answered with her own question.

"Li, do you ever wonder who our father is?"

"Fathers are. I don't think we're from the same father."

Ri looked a little startled. "How could we not be?"

Li floundered a little, but the answer was there, for some reason. "I don't know. I think I remember reading that sometimes, if it happens close enough together, and if the conditions are right, that you can get twins that aren't of the same father."

"Conditions are right?" 

"Oh, you know. We've both read the books."

"Yes, I know, it just sounds funny. Well, have you ever wondered who our fathers are?"

"Nope. Never. Don't think I really want to know, either. Mama would have told us by now if she thought it was in our best interests. I sort of get the feeling-" Li did get a feeling then, sort of in her midsection, under her solar plexus. Ri jumped a little at the word feeling, recognising that she hadn't known that she shouldn't charm her cauldron, it was just a _feeling_, "-that it's connected to some sort of awful story that mama doesn't want to tell us. And if it's connected to some sort of awful story, then I don't want to know. Mama will tell us when it's necessary." Li subsided, and Ri thought over what her sister had said. 

"Yes, I think you're right. It makes sense. I still wonder, though."

And with that, the conversation moved on to more pleasant- and less controversial- topics. 

~*~

Another portion of the story for you: thankyou to my reviewers! Thankyou all, readers and reviewers alike. Happy dreaming!

*kitten


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Hermione Granger was not a weak woman, but when it came to the time for her children to properly enter the ranks of first-years, she was a burbling mess. 

"It's not like you'll never see us, mama." Adrienne sighed to her blubbering mother.

"We'll come and visit all the time! _And_ you'll get to teach us. If we lived here with you, people'd get suspicious." Lianna gently spoke to her mother, who was now blowing her nose quite noisily.

"I know," their mother somehow managed to sob out, "it's just so hard to believe that my babies are growing up…" and then she was a mess again. 

"And it's only ten o'clock," Ri commented. 

~*~

Seven o'clock rolled around quite leisurely, allowing plenty of time for the girls to console their mother, pack their bags and stroll into the entrance hall, along with several meals in between. They could hear when the other students arrived, the echoes finding the girls long before the bodies came into sight. 

"Here we go, Li," Adrienne mumbled, apprehensive of the noisy student body approaching. Hagrid walked into view, followed by a cloud of noisy children. Professor Varimont stepped through the doors, and their combined presence quieted the children. 

"Welcome to Hogwarts. This will be a second home for you, until you have finished your schooling. Within this large family, there are four smaller families. Each has its own heroes, and its own villains. These are Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Slytherin. You will live with this smaller family, and they will take care of you, just as you take care of them. Good things you do will earn you House Points, whereas things you do wrong will lose you House Points. The house with the most points at the end of the year will win the House Cup. I will shortly lead you into the Great Hall to be sorted. Don't worry," Varimont smiled slyly, "it's relatively painless." Li and Ri smothered their giggles, seeing the terrified faces of their surrounding classmates. 

"Who are you?" a small voice asked from behind them, and the girls spun around to face the speaker. 

He was a small, mousy-haired boy, with huge grey eyes. "I didn't see you on the train," he explained, although his gaze was still troubling.

Lianna piped up, smiling beatifically, "that's because we weren't on the train. We live here. Our mother is a teacher."

He frowned over this for a moment, allowing another boy to interrupt. "So you're the ones who live here. My brother told me about you- said that you know the corridors better than anyone." This speaker was tallish, with very red hair and lots of freckles. 

"Oh, yes. Well, we've lived here since we were five, so we'd better know the corridors well! The teachers don't even know the corridors as well- if only because they teach all the time. We had six years of free time to explore." Adrienne replied. The attention of the whole group had somehow come upon the twins, and while they were speaking, nobody else spoke. 

"I'm Graham Weasley, by the way," the redhead said. 

"And I'm Roger Creevy," the mousy-haired boy interrupted.

Suddenly the girls were overwhelmed by introductions, names flying through the air thick and fast. There was only one sniff of disdain- a small blonde girl at the back of the crowd. Her hair was tightly curled, although whether this originated from curlers, charm or nature, was uncertain. 

"I'm Lilith Zambini," She said coldly, "and my mother says that your mother is a no-good Mudblood chit who doesn't deserve the air she breathes."

Adrienne and Lianna gaped at the girl, before pouncing on her. "Don't you ever… insult… our… mother!" The words were punctuated with attacks from both twins. When the girls fell away, Lianna sported a nice scratch down the side of her face, Adrienne had a distinct handprint on her arm (she showed the surrounding crowd, who were mightily impressed with this trophy), but it was clear who came out worse from the fight.

Lilith Zambini, who had just moments ago been so bold in her pronunciation of disgust was rather more thankful when the lady herself walked into the room. "Professor," she grovelled, "Professor, these girls just attacked me! There was no provocation, and now look at me!" Her wail was insipid, and Hermione looked curiously at her children, who were rather bashful, although outraged at the misinformation. There was an awed silence, however, blocking the escape of the truth.

"The noise was heard in the Great Hall. I personally find this 'get to know you' time in the entrance hall a little unnecessary, but Professor Varimont assures me that it's necessary. It must be a Transfiguration thought. I am Professor Granger, and, since it's now time to go in, I'll escort Miss Zambini to Madam Pomfrey in the Hospital Wing, and the rest of you may go in." Lilith's eyes had gone wide and her face white at the mentioning of Hermione's name, and Hermione had a small insight into what had caused the altercation. After waving the rest of the children into the Great Hall, Hermione took the little goldilocks in hand, taking her straight to the Hospital Wing. 

~*~

Lianna and Adrienne escorted the other first-years down the hall and crowded them onto the raised platform at the front of the Great Hall. Varimont was sitting calmly at the closest end of the Teacher's Table, and quietly got up to call names. The entire Great Hall had gone quiet when the children had entered, and fear had started to seep back into the faces of the children around Lianna and Adrienne. Varimont gave the instructions of what was to happen, and relaxed for the Sorting Hat Song. 

It was short, but somehow, it slipped between the cracks in Lianna's hearing- she was captivated by the sight of the bedraggled witches' hat floating in the air and singing. Suddenly, it slumped back to the chair. Varimont began calling names.

"Andrews, Peter" started off the fun ("Hufflepuff!"), and Lianna was astounded at just how quickly the process went when she was the one standing in line. When she had been seated at the Teacher's Table with her mother, this process had dragged on for what had seemed like forever. Before she knew it, Adrienne was under the hat.

"Well, now," the hat spoke, for only Adrienne to hear.

"Well, now, yourself!" Adrienne replied silently, with amusement in her voice. There was a small, astonished silence from the hat. 

"That doesn't happen often! Let's see now… Two strong bloodlines in you. Let's see; where would you like to go- Gryffindor or Slytherin? Ah, such a quick answer! Well, I suppose, you do have a rather negative stereotype of Slytherins, but it'd be cruel to put you there to change that. You'll got to…"

"GRYFFINDOR!" Adrienne mouthed silently along with the hat. She smiled slightly, before the hat was removed and the huge cheer from the Gryffindor table welcomed her down. Adrienne turned and smiled reassuringly at her sister, who was walking to the small stool.

Lianna felt positively dwarfed. The hat fell well down over her eyes, where it had sat nicely on Adrienne's head. The hat awoke on her head, and although she knew it would only talk to her, it still felt weird to be talking silently to a _hat_, no matter how long she'd been in the wizarding world. 

"Another child of the same mother! Welcome, Lianna. I assume you'd like to stay with your sister? You've definitely the courage to do so. Well, let's put you in…"

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat roared, and Lianna breathed a tiny sigh of relief. The roar of the table then drowned out all thought, and she was carried down to the table on their cheers. She sat herself down next to her sister, and they were instantly barraged with many questions. 

"So, you've made it into our beloved house!" A tall, dark-haired fourth-year said jovially. "You'll be the talk of the school for a little while- children of a teacher! I'm glad you're in our house, though- now we'll get to see where all the best secrets of the castle are!" He beamed at them, and they merely smiled back, unsure just what was expected of them.

"I'm Jeremy Potter, by the way."

"Son of Harry Potter?" Lianna instantly asked, her curiosity piqued.

"Oh, that. Yes. Well, I didn't get to choose my parents- I have such a hard time getting that picture out of people's heads, and making my own picture clear there. But, then, I don't mind it that much." His smile was radiant. Lianna smiled back at him, and the combined glare of their smiles was enough to knock anyone around who happened to glance their way. 

"Your mother's Hermione Granger, isn't she? I'd say that she'd be pretty famous too, wouldn't she? I mean, she almost single-handedly brought down the Death Eater cult, once dad had killed Voldemort, right?" Adrienne and Lianna exchanged glances- in all their years of knowledge combined, their mother had said almost nothing about her days as an Auror. "Must be related to that awful story that mama doesn't want to tell us," Adrienne had said one day. Lianna had agreed.

"I suppose. Mama doesn't like to talk about that sort of thing, although I'm sure that she'll say something about it in Defence, one day. Probably when we're looking at the abuse of power." Adrienne murmured thoughtfully. Jeremy looked interested at this, but said nothing more on the subject, tactfully. 

He began another question, but was interrupted by the Headmistress' call for order. 

"Welcome, first years! Welcome back, the rest of you. I'd like to give you all a long lecture about the importance of learning and school, but you wouldn't listen anyway, so why bother? I'm sure you're all starving, because your parents just don't feed you, so let the feast begin!" She clapped her hands together, and the plates miraculously filled with food. 

Lianna grinned mischievously at the gaping faces of some of the Muggle-born first-years: this was probably their first real taste of magic. Lianna tried to think what life would be like without magic- probably a dull world, at best. She tried to imagine writing without the end of her quill tickling her face, or the pain that would be endured if she broke her arm and had to wait for it to mend. She suspected that magical accidents wouldn't happen, but where was the fun in that? She thought that Adrienne's whiskers had been particularly fetching. 

Adrienne dug into the food almost immediately, passingly wondering at where her hunger had been hiding. The first-years paused momentarily, wonderment showing on their faces at all their favourite dishes displayed before them. Then amazement passed, and they all dug in as well. Adrienne nudged her sister, and Lianna's reflective moment passed, allowing her hunger full reign on the poor, defenceless food before her. 

The food was whittled down, as was the students' hunger. Eyes were beginning to droop, and food turned aside. Minerva stood once again.

"This year, our Head Girl is Melissa Green from Hufflepuff," there was loud applause, mainly from the Hufflepuff table, "and our Head Boy is Roger Yale from Ravenclaw." Once again loud applause, mainly from the Ravenclaw table. "A few review notices for you: nobody goes into the Forbidden Forest- it's Forbidden." A few smatterings of polite laughter, but Minerva didn't seem to realise that she'd spoken a pun. "Only third years and above are permitted to go to Hogsmeade on the appointed weekends. Now, I will allow your prefects to take you all to bed." Minerva sat down, and there was a large swell of noise as everybody stood and began talking. There were several shouts of, "first years this way!" from assorted prefects, and the Great Hall emptied relatively quickly.

"The Sorting Feast of another year," Minerva said wearily to Marjory as the last of the children left.

Marjory just smiled a little.

~*~

"Now, are you sure that you're fine, Miss Zambini?" Hermione was still sitting with the terrified little girl, and she wasn't at all surprised when Varimont brought the Sorting Hat into the Hospital Wing to sort the girl there. 

Unsurprisingly, it spluttered out, "Slytherin," although with somewhat distaste. The blonde girl glared at Hermione for a moment, then at Varimont, before asking if she was free to go. 

"Are you sure you don't need me to take you down to your rooms? You were pretty shaken up…" Hermione had to say that torturing such unpleasant children as this was quite entertaining. She just hoped that she didn't come to enjoy it too much- she'd end up like Snape. Hermione shuddered at that thought in disgust. 

Varimont smiled- not a nice smile, at that- and said, "don't worry, Hermione, I'll take Miss Zambini down to Snape's rooms to retrieve the password for her portrait. I'll ask Snape to keep a special eye on her for you."

"Oh, you don't have to do that," Hermione balked a little- setting Snape on someone was not something she'd want to do to even the most vile of people. But Varimont already had the girl up and was taking her by the arm, despite Hermione's spluttering and the look of utter terror on the little girl's face. Pomfrey came in to sit beside Hermione.

"Fate worse than death, I'd say."

"Me too- not entirely my idea. Any thoughts on how she managed to become the head of Gryffindor House?"

"Minerva wouldn't let her be head of Slytherin. I think she has ambitions for the Gryffindors."

"Good luck to her- when I was in Gryffindor my friends were so disgustingly brave and _good_ it made my head hurt."

"I had thought it to be the other way around?"

"Probably. But impressions were everything- I wouldn't have done nearly so well on my OWLs and NEWTs if I'd been rash, would I?"

"Of course not. Impressions are not so important to you any more?"

"Of course not. Now I can tell the students what impressions to have of me, and the other teachers know who I am enough for impressions not to count. After all, isn't that the idea of growing up?"

"So they say, dear. You'd better go and eat something, or you'll fade away."

"Oh, that's not likely to happen any time soon."

"You look thin to me."

"That's because you're not wearing your glasses."

"I don't wear glasses."

"Maybe you need to."

"Maybe you need to eat more."

"Goodnight Poppy,"

"Sleep well dear. Don't forget to eat."

"I won't. Goodnight."

Hermione slipped out of the Hospital Wing and headed towards the Kitchen. The House Elves were still a little wary of her, but Hermione's campaign for their freedom had run into a very large obstacle- she'd found out that freed House Elves were more prone to dying than their bonded counterparts. They tended to waste away, if they didn't openly go out and kill themselves. Hermione had decided to ponder her views on their freedom for a while, and the House Elves appreciated it. She tickled the pear.

"Good Evening, Miss Hermione!" Dobby's voice echoed in the low-roofed kitchens.

"Good Evening, Dobby. How are you?" Hermione sat slowly, feeling her years. 

"Dobby is good, thanking you for asking, Miss. What is Miss wanting to eat?"

"Dobby, anything to eat would be nice. I missed dinner."

"Well, Dobby has just what Miss wants, then!"

And Hermione found herself confronted with large platters of food, stuffed full of her favourite foods. "Thankyou, Dobby," Hermione murmured as she began to gorge herself on the delicious food.

~*~

"How do you think Mama's doing, Li?"

"Dunno, Ri. Hope she's coping all right. These beds are huge!"

Lianna sprawled spread-eagled on her bed before sitting upright again.

"No bigger than our beds at home, Li. They're just in bigger rooms." The twins looked at the large, circular tower where their beds were located. The other girls were all similarly awestruck at their rooms. 

"I'm Melissa Whitmore," a slightly rounded, smiling faced brunette introduced herself. She was in the bed beside Adrienne. "I'm Muggle-born, and this is just amazing!" Her eyes scanned the high roof and the almost garish wall coverings and rugs. "Who ever thought? Me! A witch! Ha! I laughed when I got my letter. My parents didn't believe either- one of the professors actually had to come and talk to my parents. It still makes me wonder!" She was very expressive with her hands as she talked, and her face was animated. 

"Our mother's a Muggle-born. Granny and Pop are Muggles. They're so funny! We go and see them every year for Christmas, and they use electrical lights on their trees. Of course, they don't have fairies. Which is a good thing, because fairies bite." Lianna babbled. Adrienne grinned, thankful that Lianna was babbling at someone other than her. 

"Fairies? Really? How marvellous! I can't wait for Christmas here!" 

A small, red-haired girl entered the conversation at this point. "My cousin said that it's really very pretty. The fairies are very well behaved here, because Professor Flitwick is here. I'm Sarah Weasley." She smiled wistfully.

"Oh! So you're Graham's sister?" The girl looked a little startled at Lianna's outburst, but shook her head.

"No, he's my cousin. Here, let me draw you a little family tree- my family's so sprawling you have to have a diagram to figure it all out." The little girl collected a quill, ink and parchment and sat on Lianna's bed. 

"Here's Gran and Gramps. Gramps was Minister of Magic until three years ago, when he retired. Romulus Meyton took over after him. They had seven kids, my uncles and aunt. Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George- they're twins, Ron and Ginny."

"Oh!" Lianna interrupted, "Mama said that Ginny delivered us!"

"Yes, she's a midwife. Uncle Bill has three kids: Susanna, who's in her second year of University, Hayley, who's in seventh year this year, and Malcolm, who's ten. Yes, quite an age gap, but he's about the same age as my little brother, so they play together all the time.

"Uncle Charlie has only one child, Lillian, or Lily, as we call her. She's just out of school this year. She's reading Applied Transfiguration at Greenwich. 

"Uncle Percy has four kids. Mark, Hannah, Joshua and Tansy. They're all a year apart, with Mark in seventh year, Hannah in sixth, and so on. 

"Uncle Fred has two kids- twins- Henry and John. They're both seven. 

"Uncle George has two kids, Luke and Graham. Luke's in second year, Graham's first, like me.

"My dad's Ron. There's me, and Joseph, who's ten, and Calista, who's eight.

"Aunt Ginny got married last year. She doesn't have any kids yet, but last time we heard from her they were trying." Sarah looked at her little diagram, and nodded, satisfied.

Adrienne and the other girls crowded around, looking on in amazement. "That's a big family, Sarah," Ri murmured. 

"Yeah," the other girl in their dorm room said. "Kimi Senoua," she introduced herself. "I'm fourth-generation witch." She was short, about as short as Lianna. Her hair was dark, glossy black, which matched her Asian countenance. 

"I'm really tired," Lianna piped up, bluntly to the point. The general consensus agreed, and the lights went out. 

"Night, Ri," Lianna murmured softly.

"Night, Li."

~*~

Another episode: thanks heaps to all of you: the readers, the reviewers; the other writers who write so much! A few of you are really inspirational!!

*kitten


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Sitting in the Great Hall was quite different from before, with the girls sitting on the Gryffindor table, looking up at their mother. Hermione sighed- her little babies were growing up. She wished she had a camera to take photos on the twins' first day of classes. She didn't however- magical cameras made her a little edgy for some reason; it just didn't seem natural to have people walking around in pictures. 

So she watched her children chatting to the others at their table. There were two red-headed children: one who looked like a child of one of the twins- it must have been the mischievous glint in his eye: or maybe the canary cream that somehow turned a little mousy-haired boy into a fluffy canary for a few moments. There was much laughter all round. There was also a little red-haired girl, and Hermione supposed that she could be Ron's daughter. 

She sighed. It had been years since she had talked to either Ron or Harry, despite teaching Harry's kids, and soon teaching Ron's. She wondered if they even knew she was teaching here?

They had been the first to find her…

~*~

Auror training had been hard, and after Harry defeated Voldemort in their Seventh Year, there was little motivation for new recruits. The trio had joined anyway- Hermione had since wondered if, had she taken another line of work, she would have ended up at the house anyway. 

Three years of Auror training had produced three rather green but- in their minds at least- quite adequate Aurors. They had risen quickly through the ranks, although Hermione might have liked to rise faster. She had almost had to bodily force the boys through some of the tasks and tests. 

The only one to openly despise them was Draco Malfoy, who had joined the ranks in a surprise move. Hermione, at least, had been left standing open-mouthed at their entrance exam to see the still rather short and scrawny pinch-faced blond turn up, swishing through the door. In the year following their graduation, Malfoy had gone from being quietly antagonistic to almost an all-out side-taking war. Hermione didn't understand it at all, until one day when she had been in the library, reading up on resurrection rites. 

Malfoy had been sitting quietly in a corner, reading the book she had been hoping to study. Before he saw her, she had slid back around the corner, watching him surreptitiously through the books. If he'd been looking, he would have seen her. Maybe he had. 

There was a strange light in his eyes as he turned the pages of the book, a burning, an obsessive shine that set of warning bells in her mind. Malfoy scratched at his left forearm absently as he read, and finally pulled back the sleeve of his robes to scratch at the irritant. It took all the training she had to stop from gasping openly. There, embedded in his arm was a full tattoo of the Dark Mark, blazing black in all its glory. Hermione didn't stop to consider before she rounded the corner. 

She had quietly confronted him, asking him why he, as an Auror, had the Dark Mark engraved in his arm. He had jerked his sleeve down, stood, placed the book down, open to the page he had been looking at. A quick glance noted it was similar to the spell Voldemort had used to resurrect himself when she had been in third year. His eyes narrowed at her, asking her why she was spying on him. She had replied that if he was a Death Eater, he deserved to be spied upon. 

At this, he had looked guiltily at his arm, glanced at the book, flicked it closed, and stood facing her again. He had asked her what her problem was. She had pointed out that he was the one being openly hostile to her and Harry and Ron. He had glared at her, before replacing the book on the shelf, and swishing past her. There was a worried shadow in his eyes, and Hermione wondered at its cause. 

If she spoke out, he would be removed from the ranks of Aurors. If she didn't, or if he wasn't really a Death Eater, then they were totally different reasons. Hermione was still roiling in inner turmoil when news reached her that Draco Malfoy had fled the premises. 

After that, her vendetta had been against the remaining Death Eater cult. It was classified thus, as their leader was now merely a dark-cloaked man rather than the Dark Lord himself. Then they had been a threat- now they were just a worry. Hermione dedicated large amounts of study to the topic, and finally had enough intelligence to request a raid on the Malfoy Manor. 

She had been refused, out of hand. A glare had been directed at her from her ranking officer, but the fire was burning deep enough in her for her to defy orders. She had left on her own.

Now, she wondered how she had been so rash. There were a million regrets in her mind over her actions, but she shook these aside as she relived the terrifying memories. 

The party had been in full swing when she had arrived. She had dressed for the occasion, and painted the Dark Mark on her inner arm. A quick transfiguration of her face and body had ensured that she wouldn't be recognised as who she was, even if she was recognised as a fake Death Eater. 

She had known her mistake almost as soon as she entered. Everyone had a date, a partner, and she was alone. She immediately attracted the attention of their leader, a man whose head was covered with dress that was strikingly similar to a Ku Klux Klan uniform, except that it was midnight black. He had stood, and strode over to her, his stride purposeful. 

"My dear," he had said, and she could still hear the cold voice, recognising it at once. "You must accompany me to the back. It is unsightly that you are so- unaccompanied. You must be new; don't worry, we'll teach you." She had felt the leer, and the firm grip on her arm, knowing she was lost, and knowing that she should have been prepared for this.

There had been many men, some she recognised, some she didn't. She had nearly lost control near the end, and only the knowledge that she would be killed if she weren't weak at that moment kept her docile. She wondered if all the women went through this process. Finally, the leering leader had pulled off his mask, and kissed her roughly, possessively, on the mouth. 

"We'll see to the rest of your education when you're a little rested." He had turned on his heel and strode out, his long blond hair streaming out behind him. Hermione had removed her wand from its position strapped to her back, a fire of despair and humiliation burning deep in her that wouldn't be quenched. She hadn't had time to do much but close her robes and storm out. 

She caused much destruction, and murdered close to a hundred people that night, men and women alike.

Harry and Ron had been the first to find her, huddled in close to herself, eyes glazed with fury, rocking gently and crooning to herself. There were dead bodies strewn all around, and the entire Malfoy Manor had been reduced almost all to rubble. They had scanned the position and informed others that it was safe. Then they came to comfort Hermione. 

She was hardly there. They both sat there, near her, and she finally, haltingly, tore out the tale. She was sobbing by the end, and hardly had the presence of mind to ask, "Who told you where I was?"

The boys had glanced over her head, and Ron had nearly said that it didn't matter, only that she was safe, before he stopped himself. He knew, in a moment of insight, that that particular tack wouldn't go down well. "It was Snape. He was here tonight, collecting names and intelligence. He was quite distressed when he turned up at Headquarters." Hermione had been startled; realising that what she had done was unnecessary, and broken down completely. 

She had lost the next few months. They were there, but were merely a haze of rage, pain and fear. She expected reprimand at every turn, but when she returned, all she received was comfort. Word spread quickly in the Wizarding world. She had received commendation for her efforts, and it was recorded in history books- and even the Daily Prophet- that she had single-handedly brought the demise of the Death Eater cult. 

Then the news had come. She was pregnant. She had cursed for days for not taking the time to cast that particular charm over herself. But she couldn't bring herself to take herself to a clinic, Wizarding or Muggle; so she bloated. 

Harry and Ron had tried to keep contact with her, but she had severed them from her life. It had just been too painful for her to see them with their happy little lives. She withdrew into herself completely, and almost forgot to call for a Midwife when her contractions started. 

She had never re-established contact. Neither had they. Harry had been married in his first year out of school to a lovely girl called Meredith. She had heard through the grapevine that Ron had married as well, and had a child only a few months after she had had hers. 

Now she looked at her daughters, and wondered who their fathers were. She could ask for a Paternity Charm, but they were frighteningly expensive, and sounded to her similar to background checking her children: it produced a detailed family tree, right back to Muggle parentage. Hermione's side would have been short, but she guessed- from the company she had been keeping- that the fathers' side would be quite long.

~*~

Watching her daughters, she made a decision. She would save the money for the girls, and if- when they were eighteen- they desired to find out who their fathers were, they could have the money to do so. Having made up her mind on that particular issue, she began to eat her breakfast in earnest. 

~*~

The girls were surprised at just how quickly they made friends. Their knowledge of the corridors also earned them a lot of money- Filch had a hard time finding canoodling couples from that time on. They smiled, and laughed, and made good marks. Their extra practice in the Potions Lab showed, but both had an appetite for knowledge that did them- and their mother- proud. 

It was odd to be taught by their mother, but the situation worked out well, and they often ended up with detentions in that subject- so they could talk to their mother. They didn't need the excuse, but it was a fun game. 

They never did learn exactly what had happened on the night their mother brought down the ranks of the Death Eaters, although there were rather accurate guesses from both girls. Both still needed time to grow from their sheltered home into the world that sought to claim them.

~*~

It is years later that we pick up their story, and though their adventures between were quite frequent, nothing was quite as noteworthy as the escapade that began on their eighteenth birthday.

~*~

And there we go- finally, a few of your myriad of questions have been answered! Don't worry… the next chapter will be out soon…

*kitten


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Year 2023 Common Era

"Graduation was _entertaining_, though!" 

"For you, maybe. I had Michael break up with me, remember?"

"Oh, but you knew that was going to happen."

"Yeah, but it was still a big deal! I didn't see you with a steady boyfriend, for nearly two whole years!"

"No, because I was interested in more important things."

"Like that Keneazle of yours?"

"No, like getting good OWLs and NEWTs."

"Oh, and I didn't get those?"

"Of course you did. But I have to have some excuse for being single for such a long time, don't I?"

"Of course not! There's nothing more powerful than a single woman!"

"Oh, Li, you make me laugh!"

"Of course I do, Ri: without me, you'd be a right dark girlie!"

"That was a pathetic accent, Li."

"I know, wasn't it?"

"Pathetic."

"Completely!"

"Even I could do better."

"Go on, then."

"Never!"

"Oh, here we go, mighty Ri, adventurer, but never giving in to doing an exotic accent…"

"You call Scotland exotic?"

"More exotic than England."

"Have you _seen_ the wizarding community in Scotland? Not a more backward group in the entire world!"

"Ah, but that just makes them more exotic! Exotic merely means different, and if they're backward, that definitely makes them different, doesn't it?"

"Can't refute that."

"Know you can't."

"Course you know I can't, that's why you said it."

"Yup."

"Impossible."

"But love me?"

"'Course."

"Love, too."

"Know."

The girls were sitting back to back on Lianna's bed, Lianna doing her nail polish, Adrienne drawing spirals on a sheet of parchment with her quill. Their conversations often dwindled into half-words that only the two of them could decode. As if in response to the earlier comment, a small, grey ball of fluff stalked into the room, tail held high.

"Coming up, Mist?" Adrienne questioned her pet. A responsive miaow accompanied a thud on the bed as the Keneazle launched up onto the high bed. Lianna frowned in concentration to keep her nail polish from spilling over onto her skin. It was a game for her- if she did spill it on her skin, she could simply charm if off; but the thrill of staying within the lines of her nail amused her for endless hours. The grey pseudo-cat sniffed disdainfully at the girl's polish, before barging onto Adrienne's lap and taking up residence.

"Comfortable?" Adrienne asked her creature pointedly, but the creature merely looked up at her owner with her large green eyes and miaowed 'yes'.

"Impossible," Adrienne repeated, but with a smile on her face. 

Mist had been a present for Adrienne's sixteenth birthday; Lianna had received a coat she'd been eyeing off for months. Hermione was quite an avid gift-giver, and good at it. Despite living at opposite ends of the castle, she kept close track of both twins' interests and likes, even keeping abreast of Lianna's roaring social and romantic life. 

"Wonder what mama's going to buy us for our birthday?" Lianna mused out loud. Adrienne scratched her Keneazle's ears, making her purr contentedly, filling the whole room with sound. For a small creature, she was quite loud when her mind was put to it. 

"Don't know, Li. What would you want?"

"Don't know, Ri. It's all a bit mysterious, isn't it? I mean, she wouldn't even give us a hint!"

Adrienne considered this. There was obviously good reason to not give details, although Adrienne couldn't think of much that would require this level of secrecy. Not even any of the other teachers had any ideas, and they were usually good for finding out what their presents were: Adrienne had already bought a castle for her Keneazle before her mother gave it to her. 

But this birthday, the teachers didn't even know. 

"Suppose she'll tell us today, won't she?" 

Lianna nodded at the rhetorical question. She finished her nail polishing, laying aside the little bottle of paint. "Charm my nails?"

Adrienne picked up her wand and aimed back over her head. Lianna moved her fingers into a direct line. "_Evapatora_," and the polish was completely dry. Lianna then picked up her own wand and cleaned up her nails, though they were rather neat already. 

"Ready to face the world again?"

"Maybe. Midyear holidays are so much fun."

"We get to see mama, if nothing else. Shall we, then?"

"If we want to get our presents, guess we'd better."

"Only reason?"

"Never! I love mama!"

"I know," Adrienne laughed, putting down her quill and parchment, picking up the grey fluff-ball and placing it on her shoulder. They both got up: Adrienne carefully, so as not to dislodge Mist; Lianna careful, so as not to damage her nails. They walked out to the main room of their apartments, looking for their mother.

Hermione had aged gracefully. Her hair was beginning to grey at the temples, and her skin was becoming paler, but she was happier than ever, and that showed through most of all. Being the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher had never been so easy, as most people refused to even believe that wizards such as these existed any more. Hermione was convinced that this ignorance would, however, allow another Dark Lord to rise, so she took careful pains to instil in her students the knowledge of what would happen if one such rose again. She hoped she was encouraging wisdom. 

Today, however, she was nowhere to be found. Instead, on the table, was a letter, addressed to the twins. Twin quizzical looks met the envelope, and Lianna's hand snatched it up. After handling it for a moment, however, she handed it to Adrienne. 

"You read it. It has bad vibes." Lianna's face was genuinely worried, however, so Adrienne grasped the letter. 

"Feels like a normal 'dear John' letter to me," Adrienne joked, but Lianna's face didn't warm into a smile. Apprehension entered into Ri's heart, and before her nerve failed her, she tore open the letter and began to read it.

After her eyes had taken in the words, she handed it over to her sister, who handled it as though it were cold and slimy. Lianna had, grasped in her hand, the secret their mother had been living with- and, Adrienne realised, everyone else had known- for eighteen years. This was why nobody had ever asked why their mother was single. This was why Hermione had avoided the issue consistently over the years. 

Lianna, shaking now, handed the letter back to Adrienne; pointing at a postscript that had appeared once she had read the letter.

_'Girls: my present to you, this birthday, is the knowledge of who your fathers are, if you desire to know. There is a key in the envelope to a vault at Gringott's with the money for a paternity spell. If you don't desire to know, the money is yours to do with as you please. I don't know who they are, and I'm not sure I want to know, as I'm sure you now understand. I will be absent today, but know that I love you very much, as I always have, no matter who they are. All my love, Mama.'_

And sure enough, in the envelope was a key, burnished bronze and tiny, with the letter Delta inscribed into its top. Lianna looked up at Adrienne, eyes wide with terror.

"What do we do now?" Her voice was tiny and scratchy; her deep blue eyes close to tears. 

"We go." Adrienne stated emphatically. She grasped the key and placed it in her pocket. "I've never really wanted to know who my father is, but now that I can know, I will. If nothing, it will allow me to look him up and curse him for doing that to our mother." If her sister was consumed by apprehension, Adrienne was consumed by fury. The anger did help, however, allowing Lianna some measure of comfort that the knowledge would not be completely bad. 

"Let's do it then," Lianna said murkily, and grabbed her sister's hand as they began to walk towards the gate. Mist, still clutching at Adrienne's shoulder, purred again.

~*~

Gringott's was busy, as ever. The noise was reassuring, making Adrienne sure that life would go on, even if her father were evil, or dead; both of which were likely. The goblin behind the desk looked at the girls strangely- although maybe that had something to do with the Keneazle still perched on her shoulder. The cart ride was nauseating, as always, but the girls arrived intact. The amount of money in the vault seemed ridiculously large. They scooped out every last Knut, and then took the hectic trip back up the roller coaster ride. Once they were back up at the desk, Adrienne asked to have the vault closed, and she returned the key.

"This is your key." The goblin replied abruptly, giving the key back to the girl. Adrienne looked suspiciously at the Delta key, before shrugging- much to the consternation of Mist- and putting the key back in her pocket.

"Thankyou," she said to the goblin, and the twins left Gringott's. 

It didn't take them long to locate Knockturn Alley, the only place the Paternity spell was performed. It did take them a little while, however, to find the right store- nothing was as well signposted in Knockturn Alley as it was back on Diagon Alley- for obvious reasons. 

Finally, they found a store- grey and leering- and they stepped inside. It smelled of mint and rosemary, and a metallic tinge that couldn't be mistaken for anything but blood. 

"Pleasant," Lianna whispered. Adrienne agreed.

The attendant chose that moment to push through the doorway. He was short and bowed, his face scarred and pitted as though he had lived through a plague. His eyes were disturbingly green in his sunken eye sockets, however- unnaturally so. Adrienne wondered what drug he took to have this side effect. It was none she had heard of- of course, she had lived at Hogwarts for most of her life, and a more sheltered position didn't exist. All she really knew of the outside world was what she'd learned in her books, and they weren't particularly helpful, either.  Even the restricted section was out of date, now.

"We do Paternity. If that's not what you're looking for, go somewhere else. That's all we do." The little man was obviously used to being asked for darker things than fathers. 

"Well, that's what we want. Costs?" Adrienne was as abrupt as she dared to be- the little man with his wispy brown hair and pitted skin made the balls of her feet itch. 

"Fifty Galleons each. And a drop of blood for the pot." Adrienne looked a little astonished at the price, but their mother had more than compensated. There was plenty of money in the bag.

"I'll pay up front." Adrienne did realise that this wasn't particularly intelligent, but the amount of money in her pocket was burning out, and she wanted to get rid of it. The large stack of gold coins she pulled out of her moneybag made the man's green eyes even brighter, more eager, but she steeled herself against the desire to turn and run in the other direction. Wouldn't do to back out at this stage. She had to be strong, if only for Lianna's sake- she stood trembling to her right. The little man scooped the coins off the counter with one swipe, pushing them into a register. 

"Come through then." He motioned them through the counter, and led the girls back into the rooms of the shopfront. Mist was tense, as Adrienne was, but their collective resolve was enough. 

The little man sat them down in a dim room, lit only by one lamp above a couch that the girls sat on. The entire room stank of blood and smoke.

The man took out a small knife and motioned for Adrienne to hold her hand out. With a small quiver, Adrienne did so. Lianna cowered beside her sister, shrinking back into the couch, away from the almost phosphorate shine of the man's eyes. 

The blade dipped into Adrienne's skin in the centre of her palm with a sting of pain. Blood welled around the wound, forming a pool in her palm. "Into the pot," the man insisted, and Adrienne moved where he motioned, mesmerised with the sight of dark red blood in the pool of her hand. In the darkness, Adrienne began to make out the form of a cauldron. It was dirty, encrusted with something black around the rim and staining the inside; it made something inside her recoil. She tipped her hand over, draining the viscous liquid into the pot. Dark flames lit under it, and it began to boil. The man, his eyes now brighter than ever, dipped a quill into the cauldron. It dribbled dark liquid back into the pot, and when it had finished, he placed it to paper and said a few silent words. The quill perked up and began to scrawl along the page. 

Adrienne turned away, longing not to see the lines and names forming on the page. She felt dirty: shamed that this was what it took to find out her parentage, shamed that her parent had never claimed her. Feelings of guilt, loss, fear and disgust at the dark ritual she had to entertain to find out the person who was responsible for her life swamped her. 

Then reason stepped in, bringing indignation with it. This man had defiled her mother. This man had taken away her life. This man was part of the despair that had been tangled around her mother for far too long. This man would pay, if not for her own life, then for her mother's loss of innocence.

Before she could look back at the paper, the man threw silver blotting sand onto the sheet, obscuring the words. This he hastily shook off, and rolled the paper tightly, binding it with a crimson ribbon.

"Your family lines right back to Muggle heritage. It's a long list." He seemed amused at this, but no information escaped his tight-sealed lips. He then turned to Lianna, who had been cowering in the couch whilst watching with interest. The man's eyes beckoned her up, and she rose. Adrienne clutched her paternity with ambivalence. 

Lianna's hand was opened, and her blood also went into the pot. She too couldn't stand the sight of her materialising paternity; instead staring unseeingly at her sister. Adrienne couldn't hear her sister's thoughts, but could see the emotions flitting across her sister's open face. Finally, the blotting sand flew on, then slid off again, and the parchment was tightly bound. The small man plucked the quill out of the air and tucked it into a fold of his robes. The glow of his eyes had outdistanced the glow of the lamps, and Mist, still bunched on Adrienne's shoulder, began to make small growling noises under her breath.

"Thankyou, sir." Adrienne had not forgotten her manners, despite her fear of just who her truth-bringer was. 

"No," he said chillingly, quietly, "thank you." And he turned and became part of the darkness of the back rooms again.

"Scared, Ri," Lianna quivered. 

"Leaving now, Li. It's alright." And Adrienne put her arm over her sister's shoulder, guiding her out of the dark shop, out of the dark alley, and back into the bright glow of Diagon Alley. 

"Ice cream." Adrienne decided, and took her sister to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. They ate the ice cream sundaes with tantalising slowness, willing away the dangers of knowledge and praying for wisdom. 

Ice cream was silent, and despite the noise of the street, a bubble of quiet surrounded the two.

"Still scared, Ri," Lianna murmured into her ice cream.

"Me too, Li. Let's not open them until we're home, okay?"

"Okay. Then it'll just be us, and we won't have to worry about these people seeing our fathers in us."

"Right in one. We'll still have to see if our fathers are in us…"

"But we're different. We've known each other too long to be put off my little things like that. We're our own people. Besides, nothing can be worse than that time you ate mama's cauldron slop," Lianna giggled.

"Hey! You promised not to tell!"

"Mama's not here… but you did smell rather bad. I'm surprised more people didn't notice."

"They were probably just too polite. I never did it again, though."

"Well, I guess you learned that the silver round-bottomed cooking pot isn't for _cooking_, exactly."

"There's that, too."

The reminiscing took them back to a time when life was simpler, and they soon forgot about the rolls of parchment, tight in their pockets.

~*~

It was dark when they arrived back at Hogwarts.

"Wonder where mama's sleeping tonight? She won't come back here until we've made our decisions and got our knowledge or ignorance."

"Interesting way of putting it, Li. I don't know. I just hope that some man doesn't come along and abduct her on a horse and run away into the night."

Lianna laughed delightedly at the picture, "Can you seriously picture mama being abducted?" She squealed.

"Nope, but it's bound to happen some time!"

"Ooh, so you think mama's got a secret boyfriend?"

"No, but I think it's possible…" Then both girls dissolved into giggles at the thought of their mother in the arms of a man- any man.

"Nobody's silly enough to take her!"

"Come now, Li, that's a bit harsh."

"But she's so prickly! Don't look at me like that, Ri, you know that she's more stubborn than a rock."

"Yes, but it's not nice to say so, Li, not about our own mother like that." But Adrienne's smile broke the words, even as she spoke them, and soon the girls were giggling through the wall into their family apartment.

Once they were there, their task loomed before them. Lianna's face grew pale and drawn again, and she looked at her sister, "You or me, first?"

Adrienne, now at the moment of truth, couldn't think of anything worse than the knowledge that resided in her pocket.

"You," she whispered, slumping down at the kitchen table. Lianna pulled out her scroll resolutely, then, sitting opposite her sister, handed her the scroll.

"You read it."

Adrienne took the scroll, quickly trading her own. Lianna held her twin's scroll, waiting for her paternity to be revealed. Adrienne undid the ribbon, unrolling the parchment on the table. She could see the most ancient names and dates right at the top of the page, and she could see why the little man had been amused. 

"Your family is ancient, Li. Your progenitor Muggles were born in the year 583." Lianna's face paled more, "BC."

"That's old," was all she could manage, choked.

"Right down through the ages… We could look up some of these names in _Hogwarts: A History_." 

"Oh, Ri, don't even mention that awful book. I can't believe mama ever made us read that."

"It is quite interesting, though. This only traces immediate paternity. It doesn't even have brothers and sisters, only the producing offspring. Here… Oh, Li," Adrienne looked up at her sister. "Malfoy."

Lianna's pale face went slightly green, then an angry flush spread up into her pale cheeks. "Which one?" She demanded.

"Draco," Adrienne choked out, grabbing her sister's hand as the petite girl dissolved into horrified tears.

"Could be worse," the muffled, soggy words came, "could be his father." Adrienne strongly agreed. Lianna's face reappeared, red and swollen around the eyes, tears spilling unchecked down her cheeks. 

"Your turn, sis."

"I know."

Lianna disentangled her hand from her sister's, and slid the ribbon from the page, unrolling.

"Your family's just as old. 584 BC. Oh, I hope this is just a coincidental name… oh, oh, sis…" Lianna was unable to speak the words. She lifted the page to her sister, and she immediately understood why.

_Snape_. Right there, on the page. Unable to lie. Unable to hide from the truth. Adrienne felt something pinch her heart, and she grabbed her sister's hand to anchor herself through the wave of terrified emotion that swept her up. 

"So," Lianna joked through her teary face, "Seeing my father in me yet?" Adrienne smiled at her sister wistfully, grabbed her sister's elfin chin, turned her face this way and that.

"Oh, wait, from this angle you look kind of like a fish… Oh! No, that's not right. Here we go: nice ferret face!" Lianna wrenched her head out of her sister's grip, laughing. 

"Let me see…" she said, grabbing Adrienne's chin in her hand. She screwed up her face in mock disgust, quickly letting go and wiping her fingers on her robes, "Adrienne! When did you let your skin get into such condition? I'm appalled!" And then Adrienne was laughing too, hysteria rolling through them both until they began to cry.

"Can't believe it, Li. Can't."

~*~

A/N: Ok, so maybe a little cliché of me. Oh well, I enjoy the storyline, even if I'm a little tacky with the details. Thankyou so much to my reviewers, you guys are awesome! And yes, I was a little transparent in who the fathers were, but I never really meant to keep that a secret for long. The real adventure begins now…

*kitten ^_~


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Hermione was terrified. What were her girls going to find out? Would they find out? She set about shopping that day, spending probably more money than she had intended, but she was far too distracted to bargain down even some outrageously priced ingredients from the apothecary. 

She walked around in a daze, more than occasionally bumping into people. Nobody really payed her much mind- there were many rather vacant witches out there- but she knew that if anyone she knew had seen her they would have noticed without a second glance just how upset she was.

~*~

As darkness began to beckon at the horizon, Hermione turned her path towards the Muggle world. She knew that to stay in the wizarding world, she would be too tempted to communicate with her daughters, to comfort them, to entreat out of them the information they had gained. If they had gained it. So she walked into the world she had abandoned all those years ago.

She ended up at the entrance to a rather drab motel, its paint peeling a little and dirty, its sign lit up with only one globe, as the other had blown. It showed a 'vacancy' sign, though, so -knowing that her pocket couldn't handle a night in the Ritz- she walked into reception.

There was an empty counter, with a dim fluorescent light buzzing overhead. A key rack of chipboard in the bland office was all that benighted this place a motel. There were grimy plastic strips in the doorway to where Hermione assumed the owner lived. She could hear murmuring sounds and flickers of light, and she extrapolated that the owner was watching television. Hermione felt an overwhelming sadness at her isolation from this world. To think that she hadn't watched television for at least a decade… to anyone outside the wizarding world, it would have been a feat of self-restraint. Television was everywhere. But in the wizarding world, it was unnecessary, although she knew that it would have intrigued Arthur Weasley no end.

She cleared her throat loudly, to cut off weary thoughts as much as to alert the manager to her presence. There were a series of muffled noises, and then footsteps trudging to the doorway. The strips jerked back, allowing a view of the owner.

He was in his fifties, and his hair was lankly grey. His nose seemed more bulbous than it probably was, angry red against his washed-out skin tone. Seeing that she was a customer, he turned his watery, weepy blue eyes to the counter and trudged to stand properly behind it. Hermione noticed that he walked with a distinct limp, and that his liver-spotted arms were also flecked with scars, smooth white streaks on his wrinkled, tired skin.

"Madam," he drawled, obviously making some effort to be polite, "My humble motel is open to you. Take any room you like." He wryly waved his hand at the chipboard behind him. Hermione noticed that she would be the only customer tonight. "They're all pretty much the same," he completed in a weary tone.

Hermione nodded, and hardly even heard the price of the room she payed for. Taking the key she was handed, she walked to her room. The grounds were about as dismally bland as the office had been, and Hermione found that she wasn't surprised that she was the only customer here tonight. Pushing open the grimy door to her room, she began to realise just how hungry she was. Out to dinner tonight, she confirmed silently. The light flicked on noisily, a yellow glow lighting up the room. 

It was typical motel-style; double bed in the middle of the room, television, clock radio, ensuite, kitchenette, couch or two. Drab carpet that had seen far too many years and spills. Outdated linen that looked even more sickly in the yellow light. Hermione sat down on the bed, measuring its softness, before standing again, walking back out the door and locking it behind her. Back down the path, back out onto the street. She hailed a taxi, and took the drivers advice on a restaurant for dinner. 

~*~

Finally, she ended up in a tiny restaurant in the heart of London. There was little road noise due to the good design of the building, and the décor was appealing. The lights were soft, and Hermione, for the first time in many years, wished that she had someone to share this with. A sigh passed her lips, slumping her shoulders, but she smiled at the waitress as she seated her, taking the offered menu and ordering the house red. 

There were only four other tables occupied. Hermione wondered for a fleeting moment what it would be like to live in the Muggle world again. Then she remembered her amazement that first day she had realised she was a witch.

She had been standing under the tree in the backyard, the one that she had loved to climb, until one of the branches snapped in a storm, and dad had decided that it wasn't safe enough to climb anymore. She had been looking at a bird's nest in one of the lower branches, admiring it, wondering if she could do birds for the assignment that she had been given at school, when she heard the screeching of a cuckoo chick, and a tiny little baby bird had fallen out of the nest.

She had grabbed the tiny creature out of the sky, and, so incensed at the stealing cuckoo chick, promptly rose up into the air, picked up the cuckoo chick, placed it out of the nest, replaced the little chick- a robin's chick, she had identified- and returned to the ground. Then, as the red mist of injustice had faded from around the edges of her vision, she realised what she had done. 

~*~

The wonder of magic still captured her heart, and Hermione knew that she would never be able to fully return to the Muggle world, though she missed it. Hermione turned her attention to the other occupants of this little restaurant, to take her mind off her own loneliness, creating stories for them.

At the table closest, were two lovers: a redhead and a brunette, gently speaking to each other as if they were the only two people on the planet, gently brushing fingers and gazing into the other's eyes. Hermione's heart quickened, and she mournfully moved on, feeling sorry for herself. 

At the table to the left of the lovers, were a woman and a child. The little boy was smiling, and both appeared to be sharing some hidden joke. Hermione remembered when her little twins had been the boy's age, and smiled wistfully. Her little girls were growing up. The table behind the mother and son contained another lonesome figure, a woman of about thirty; sitting on her own, she was gazing intently at the menu. When the door chimed, she turned around quickly, and Hermione saw that she had been waiting for her partner. Husband, she saw, as the warm light bounced off their gold rings. 

The only other table that was occupied was one right at the back of the restaurant, which held a shadowy figure, male and alone. Hermione snorted quietly at the idea of going over and introducing herself. Instead, she turned her thoughts to the menu; the waitress came over and took her order- the chicken and a glass of house white. 

Hermione wondered how long it had been since she had tasted a good glass of white wine- the brews that passed for alcoholic beverages in the wizarding world were just not up to the same standard as their Muggle counterparts. Butterbeer was all well and good until one really wanted to get sloshed. Then you had to resort to red currant rum, or assorted other hard liquors. Nothing nice like dry white wine. Wizards just didn't have the subtlety for it. Hermione settled herself down for a long, long night.

~*~

A/N: Thankyou to Kirbee Angel, TomFeltonsSexiiWun, Michelline, peanut, Therese, Tracey Claybon, Mertle (thanks!!! That's the highest compliment I could hope for!!!), Mockingbirdflyaway, F75, LM, Silverleaf and Kimmerz. Phew, that's a list. I would answer all your questions right here… but they'll all be answered in later chapters, I'm sure!! Thankyou for the time you've put in to reply, even if it's just been two words. It's greatly appreciated.

Hope you enjoyed the latest chapter!!

*kitten


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

_She looks at me differently,_ Snape realised with a start at breakfast on the day after the twins' birthday. 

Adrienne studiously avoided looking at the man who had been revealed to be her father. Lianna, however, glared at him at every opportunity. 'To keep up appearances,' she had mumbled when Adrienne elbowed her. Snape was confused, but refused to act any differently. Pathetic little creatures, these children were- complete products of their mother.

None of the teachers knew what Hermione had given the girls for their birthday- and most would have been appalled if they had known. Many more would have gasped and taken a solid week to get over what she'd done. The protective instincts over the 'children of Hogwarts' (as they had somehow come to be called) went a long way to keeping them as ignorant as possible about their origins and the pain that went with them. 

All of the teachers had noticed that the girls stood just a little closer together, and that their eyes were reddened from lack of sleep and crying. There were a few covert guesses as to what they had received, and, from Hermione's conspicuous absence, they were probably correct. 

"Mama's still not back," Lianna hissed into her sister's ear, though Adrienne hadn't missed this fact herself. She nodded, but didn't reply to her sister- not while the other teachers could hear. She kept her tired eyes on the food before her. 

Soon enough, breakfast was over. Minerva grabbed Adrienne's elbow when they were walking out. 

"I'd like to talk to your sister and yourself, if you please?" Adrienne's eyes opened into a panicked glance, but she raised her chin slightly, set her face and nodded at Minerva. 

Minerva wondered what had passed through the girl's mind when she had mentioned meeting with the girls. The terror that coursed through the girl's face spoke no more than her determined set of face when she nodded. Minerva squeezed the girl's elbow and let her go, turning and sweeping off into her own corridors. She wondered where Hermione was.

~*~

"I wonder if she knows?" Lianna mused out loud. Adrienne just walked beside her, knowing that she wasn't required to answer the question. "She didn't say anything, so I guess she might. But she didn't give any indication that she knew either, not even all through breakfast. I don't know. Ri, do you think we'll be ok?"

Adrienne just nodded her head- what could she say? It was Aunt Minerva, anyway. She'd never do anything to hurt the girls- couldn't if she tried. 

"We'll be all right, Lianna." Adrienne murmured as they approached Minerva's door. She raised her hand and knocked on the hard wood, despite her calm words, her hand trembling slightly.

Minerva opened the door and ushered the girls in. "You both look so worried dears. Would you like some chocolate?" The chocolate was doled out, the girls' weary hearts heavy as they lowered their bodies into the chairs provided.

"Oh, Aunt Minerva, I could sleep in these chairs- they're just so comfortable!" Lianna exclaimed around her mouthful of chocolate. The fire was crackling happily, and Minerva's face didn't show any glimmer of distress that Adrienne may have expected if Minerva had known about the process the girls had endured just yesterday.

"I wanted to explore career options with you girls." Minerva began.

"Well, I think we want to tell you about our birthday, don't we, Ri?" Adrienne was taken aback at her sister's candid exclamation. Minerva smiled at the capricious little girl, wondering inwardly at what the girls would confide.

"I guess so, Li. We have to tell someone, anyway." Adrienne set her shoulders and her face before launching into the story. Lianna closed her eyes in her chair, trying to block out such recent memories. 

~*~

Minerva was in wonder at the girls, and their ability to cope. To think their mother subjected them to the Dark Arts, just for their curiosity's sake! Minerva could feel her anger rising, but felt it stemmed by a sense of helplessness. 

"Who were they?" She asked, her voice muted, her body slumped. _Far too old to be dealing with this sort of thing, by far_, Minerva thought to herself.

Lianna picked up her head from where she had been gazing intently at the floor. Her eyes were drowning in tears. "Draco Malfoy," she choked. She lowered her gaze to the floor again, seemingly unable to hold anyone's gaze.

Adrienne just gazed at the fireplace. There was distinct pain in her face. Minerva didn't need to be told; "Snape," she muttered, suddenly able to see. Adrienne nodded just once, convulsively. She shifted her gaze to the floor, also. 

"Girls, I don't know what to do." Minerva stood, grasping both girls' wrists, pulling them up behind her. She embraced them both in her arms, feeling their tears soaking into her robes. She clutched them tight, vainly shielding them from the distress they had so willingly stepped into. 

"I do, however," Minerva murmured, "think we should tell Snape. He'll find out anyway." Lianna looked up at the elderly woman's lined face, so careworn. Adrienne just kept her face buried in her shoulder.

"I agree, Ri. He'll find out. He noticed this morning. You never ignored him, but you did this morning. He's suspicious. Better to find out from us." Lianna's eyes were still wet, but there was empathy there as well. Adrienne pulled her head out of Minerva's shoulder to look at her sister and Aunt. 

"I guess so," her voice broke slightly, and her eyes were swollen. Lianna hugged her sister again, giving her strength. Adrienne pushed her head up.

_Okay, Adrienne,_ she thought to herself,_ time to stop this weakness and get out of this darkness. You're the strong one- and Li will want to tell her father as well. Wherever the hell he is._ "Let's do it then, before I lose my nerve." Lianna pulled back from her sister, clasped hands of both Minerva and her sister, and led them from the room.

~*~

A/N: Thankyou to all my beautiful reviewers: you are the reason I write. The next chapter's on the way, so fear not for the dreadful cliff-hanger… 

*kitten


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Hermione Granger was stepping off the train platform onto the long-suffering grass when she heard it: a shrill scream right at the upper register of her hearing. Curiosity piqued her taut nerves, leaving her feeling like a guitar. She turned towards the noise, sure that she could pinpoint it. _Better I find it than some other unsuspecting person. At least I'm trained;_ Hermione stepped off in the direction of the sound. She quickly found herself at the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest that protected Hogwarts outer flank from ill-wishing guests. _Who would have thought that the very place that most of our life-threatening adventures was the entity that kept us the most safe?_ Hermione laughed inwardly at the irony. The mirth that sparkled in her eyes must have kept it out of her sight until the last moment. As she stepped forward into the forest, wand outstretched before her, she didn't even see what approached her from behind. 

~*~

"I wonder when mother will be coming home?" Lianna asked on the long trip down to the dungeons. "She said she'd be gone for the day, but it's almost lunch time!" Lianna didn't know why she was babbling like this- sure, she usually talked a lot, but this was a little superfluous, even for her. Lianna searched out her inward reason for it. Her eyes were pensive to any who looked at her, and Adrienne just assumed that she was worried over their mother. Even so, it did jangle a nerve- Lianna was almost never inward in her thoughts. 

Lianna found what she was looking for- she was nervous. She nearly laughed at her inability to divine this earlier, but she managed to contain the inappropriate expression. _But what about?_ Lianna queried herself. She looked a little harder. She gasped. Adrienne glanced, worried, at her sister. 

"I think that we'll have to go and find my father when this is all over." Lianna murmured, still looking at nothing. Then she was just walking, as she had been before. Adrienne might have noticed something wrong if she had been fully aware, but she was quite preoccupied with the impending confrontation.

Minerva knocked on the door, and it opened, just as silently and inexplicably as it had when the girls had first started having Potions tutoring lessons. Adrienne tugged her sister behind her; Minerva led the way. She paused before a seemingly normal section of the wall, spoke a few words and touched the outer edge of a stone, and it began to crumble. Adrienne looked a little nervous, but as the controlled decomposition continued, she began to see a room behind it. Minerva finished the incantation when the hole was big enough for the three of them to walk through, and turned to reverse the reaction when they were through. 

Snape was sitting in a comfortable chair beside a dead fireplace, dozing. He didn't rouse when they stepped close to him. Adrienne grimaced, setting her teeth, ready to wake him up. Minerva, however, beat her to it. She stepped over to the door and opened it suddenly. 

The fire flared, and Snape's eyes burst open at the wave of heat. He sprang to his feet when he saw the twins before him in his room already. Adrienne merely gazed at him, waiting for him to initiate conversation. 

"What the hell are you doing in my rooms," he spluttered, his gaze swinging rapidly between Adrienne, Lianna and Minerva, who walked up calmly until she was standing behind Adrienne. She then proceeded to prod Adrienne in the back. _This is your conversation_, she seemed to be saying. _Damn_, Adrienne thought vehemently. 

"I have something to tell you." Adrienne nearly fainted when she felt a soft pressure against her ankle- she whipped her eyes down to the floor to see Mist weaving around her legs. She sighed in relief. 

"Well," Snape snapped, "get on with it then. I was sleeping, if you hadn't previously noticed." His face contorted into a snarl. His lank, black hair was wispy around his face. 

Adrienne set her shoulders, her mind frantically whirring for a polite, yet tactful way of informing him of their relation. She couldn't find one. "I'm your daughter." 

Snape's eyes narrowed, hard chips of black abyss. "How could you be my daughter?" But Adrienne could see that he could see it as well. She didn't answer right away.

"I'm your daughter because you raped my mother," she finally replied, and she did nothing to hide the tremor in her voice. Snape slumped back into his chair, his eyes wide, disbelieving. Adrienne remained standing, though her knees were weak; she could see Snape's hands visibly shaking.

"I'm sorry, but we felt you should know. Adrienne grabbed Lianna's unyielding hand. 

"Who is your sister's father." Snape replied dejectedly, his tone betraying his unsettledness. 

"Malfoy. Draco." Snape's eyes lifted to meet Ri's before dropping again to the floor. 

"Didn't know he was there." Adrienne could almost see the thoughts assailing her former teacher. 

"Neither."

"Your mother told you what happened?" His eyes reached her face again.

"In a letter."

"Not face to face. Non-confrontational." He snorted. "An Auror."

"A woman. A hurt woman. Still."

"I know."

"You knew it was her."

"I did."

"You never told her."

Snape just glanced up at her from the floor.

"Good point."

"Adrienne, we'd better go now. Leave Severus to his thoughts." Minerva butted in. 

"Ok, Aunt Minerva." Adrienne looked at Snape, not quite sure how to address the man. "Goodbye." She said clearly, neutrally.

"Goodbye," just as neutral. Adrienne tugged on Lianna's hand and the small, blonde girl followed her taller, dark haired sister out of the room.

~*~

"Damn," Snape muttered at the closed door. "Damn and damn."

~*~

A/N: Ooh… and the plot thickens!

*kitten


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Adrienne soon realised that her sister was more than just pliant today- she was missing. 

"Minerva- Lianna's being vacant." Mist looked up at Ri from the ground and gave her a look that said, _I can't believe you didn't notice that sooner. It was the first thing I noticed when I walked in. Humans!_ Before she turned her gaze to a creature more worthy- a piece of lint floating down the dark, dank hallway. 

Minerva looked at the diminutive girl, before pausing in her brisk walk to pull open the girl's eyelids further. "I believe you're right. There is something amiss here." And she began her march again. Adrienne had to hurry to keep up with her, despite her own long legs. 

Before long (mainly due to the pace than the lack of distance) they were back in Minerva's rooms; Mist jumped into the middle of the three-seater couch and curled up, seemingly oblivious to the workings of the situation around her. Minerva sat the blonde girl on a hard backed chair. She sat there, blank eyes gazing outwardly at the world. Adrienne reached over to touch the girl's hand. It was warm, but unresisting. 

"She's not there."

"Has this happened before?"

"No. She's always been a little bit… what's the right word? Spiritual has too many religious connotations. She's always been a little bit divinitive. She wouldn't even open the letter that mama left for us- I had to do that. Had bad vibes, apparently. She just feels things sometimes. I have no idea where it comes from- from what I've heard, her father's father is a soulless bastard, her father's not much better, and Merlin knows that mama's hardly a seeress! No idea at all." Adrienne shut her mouth. She was babbling. Not a good sign. She firmly shut her mouth. Minerva was still staring hard at Lianna. 

"We'll have to call in help."

Adrienne restrained herself from groaning, "not Trelawney, please not Trelawney." Minerva gave her a quick grin that half-resembled a grimace. 

"I said help, dear, not hindrance. Now let me see…" Minerva stood to find Floo powder and parchment. Adrienne was left holding her sister's warm hand, staring into her empty eyes, crouching on the hard, stone floor, listening to the silence. 

"Here we are, Ruth Akasha." Minerva took herself to the table, scratched furiously with her quill at the parchment. Adrienne gazed at the frolicking tip of the hawk feather. 

"Who's she?" 

Minerva glanced up from her frantic movements to look at the dark haired, soulful-eyed girl.

"She's a friend of ages. We met in University. She's a trained Psychwitch. She'll be of some help, I believe." Adrienne wracked her brain at the term 'Psychwitch'. 

"Aunt Minerva- what's a Psychwitch?"

"Oh, dear- I hope you never need one. She tunes into the spirits of people- she's often able to read moods, occasionally to read thoughts. She's also able to reach deep inside a mind and diagnose all sorts of curious illnesses, though it's dangerous. That's why I hope she'll be of help here." Minerva picked up the parchment in her greying hands, folded the parchment in such a way as for it not to fall open in the course of its travel, inscribed a name on the front in her best, delicate script. She then took parchment and Floo powder to the fireplace, tossed in the green crystals, named her location and threw the parchment into the flames. The parchment appeared to catch fire, but it was not consumed. There was a bright burst, before the entire fireplace went dark.

"Always the worst thing with using the fireplace- Floo powder clear blows everything out of the darned thing." Minerva then busied herself in the kitchenette; "Chocolate, dear?"

Adrienne pulled a chair up beside her sister and nodded her head at Minerva. All they could do was wait.

~*~

It wrapped around her in what seemed to be a sensuous, loving manner, but Hermione could feel its deadly intent. She struggled, but it held her tighter, reaching around her entire body to clasp every part of her into itself. She tried to cry out, but she had no breath to.

_Great,_ she thought_, it would have been nice to get some notice here…_ The leaves of the plant came into her view, and she set her logical mind to working out what plant it was.

"Devil's Snare," she managed to wheeze out of her constricted lungs, recognising the plant from her second-year adventure. The overcast sky and overhanging branches would have been a perfect nursery. _But,_ she thought despairingly,_ there hasn't been any wild Devil's Snare around for decades! _The thought occurred to her that it might have been planted. _But who would be so evil as to do a thing like this?_ Hermione's thoughts echoed into darkness as the constrictions of the plant became too much and she passed out.

~*~

Somewhere, in a remote part of England, in the back yard of a small, quaint cottage, a woman sat in an inscribed circle, candles floating at intervals around the edge. She stood slowly, her clear green eyes piercing the darkness in an almost phosphorate way. She clapped her hands together three times, then gently broke the circle with the toe of her leather boot. She evacuated the area, extinguished the candles and collected them before walking inside her house. Here, she turned on the lights and raised the object that had occupied her time- a small vial, tightly stoppered with a piece of ivy wood, containing just a breath of mist. 

It was all she needed.

~*~

A/N: And so, the plot begins to take shape! We'll see where it takes us…

*kitten


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

There was a loud noise from the fireplace, gusting the hair back from Adrienne's face. A woman stepped through, clutching onto her hat.

"Ah, Minerva!" she exclaimed, hastily brushing the soot from the ends of her petticoats. Her hat nearly fell off when she attempted to do this. To Adrienne, she appeared as someone who had stepped right out of the Middle Ages. She snatched her hat up, placed it on the table, revealing braided glossy silver hair underneath. Her face was ascetic, with just enough of everything required for a face, but not much more. The only thing she appeared to have more than enough of was clothes. She pulled a crocheted shawl from her shoulders, dumping it next to the hat on the table. Minerva then ducked in for a polite kiss on the cheek, as her friend tugged at her gloves. 

"Lovely to see you again, Ruth. But I've been rude- allow me to introduce Adrienne Granger: daughter of Hermione Granger, of whom I'm sure you've heard. Beside her is Lianna Granger, also a daughter of Hermione, and the cause of my desperate call for help." Ruth turned her deep blue eyes onto the girls in turn, somehow seeing more than the outer of each.

"Nice to meet you, Adrienne," she said warmly, allowing Adrienne to kiss her on the cheek. She felt to Adrienne like a grandmother, or a great aunt who was only seen once in five years. 

"And Lianna- now, let me see." She peered down into the girl's face, grasped her shoulder to keep from falling, balanced her elbow on the table and finally blew in her face. Apparently satisfied with this, she shuffled herself into a seat. 

"Is there anything you can do, Ruth?" Minerva asked worriedly, hovering at her friend's elbow. 

"Not right now- she's too far away. I'll look again in a few minutes. In the mean time, how have you been, dear?" Ruth started chatting with the flustered Minerva, and Adrienne returned her gaze to her sister. 

_In a few minutes, indeed. _

~*~

"Ugh…" Hermione winced at the flash of blinding light that pierced its way into her eyes, despite her tightly closed lids. "Wannasleep, takei'away," she groaned, trying to roll over to keep the light out. A rough hand pushed her back to the way she was. Hermione raised a hand to try to push away the rough handler, but somehow she still remained under the bright light. Wincing, Hermione forced her eyes open. 

In front of her sat a tall dark stranger. "Have I been abducted?" Hermione heard herself ask. There was a snicker from the tall man. His intense dark eyes pinned her, whilst crinkling at the edges with humour.

"No, just strangled," he replied. His lips twitched as though he wanted to laugh, but refused to give in to the urge. Hermione struggled to sit upright, her head swimming for a few moments. Then her vision righted itself, and she could see where she was.

All around her were pieces of blackened vegetable matter, savagely chopped. "I don't think you'd make a good chef," Hermione remarked. She could suddenly feel the creeping tendrils of the Devil's Snare reaching for her again, and she moved to brush them off, only to realise that they were merely echoes of a memory. The sunlight blazed bright into her face, making her hair warm and her head uncomfortable.

"Thankyou. I never did aspire to a life in the kitchen." The tall man pushed strands of dark hair out of his face. 

"Where do I know you from?" Hermione asked, sure that the face was familiar. The man seemed to ignore her question. He offered her a hand up after standing himself with feline grace. Hermione took the hand and clumsily stood, brushing off withered, burned leaves and normal forest debris from her clothes and hair. 

"You don't know me." The man finally replied, turning away from her. He looked intently at the dark, dank spot where the Devil's Snare had been situated, and moved to investigate further. He fossicked around for a few moments before exclaiming with glee and prying out a tiny whistle.

"I thought so." He pranced back to his 'captive' to parade the whistle before her. Hermione took the silver object from the man who had yet to identify himself and examined it.

"This is a normal whistle- what's so exciting about it?" Hermione asked cautiously. She felt out of her depth here, sure that she ought to know something, yet somehow lacking the knowledge. The man just twinkled his eyes at her and motioned for her to follow him. Hermione stared at his back for a moment before following the strange man. 

After all, what choice did she have?

~*~

_Psspsspsspss… psspsspsspss… ssssss… ssswirl… swirl… twist… writhe… harder… softer… echo of consciousness… glimmer of light… what am I… a girl… I am a girl… I have a name… I am… I am… a glimmer… an echo… writhe… twist… swirl… sssswirl… ssssss… psspsspsspss… psspsspsspss… _

~*~

A/N: Thanks again to all my beautiful reviewers! Let's see where this ride takes us!

Happy reading!

*kitten


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"You could slow down, you know." Hermione could hear how petulant her voice sounded, but at the moment she didn't care overmuch. "Are you planning to walk me all the way to London from here?" Hermione couldn't determine just how long she'd been walking, but she did know, however, that the muscles in her legs were burning, and that her lungs were about to give out. The sun was far off in the west. 

The dark eyed man turned back to her, taking in her appearance. He shrugged, crouched down on the ground. He waited for her. 

Hermione slumped to the ground. _I'm too old for this. I haven't been on a Harry Potter adventure for twenty one years. I have two children. I have a very large bookcase back at Hogwarts that needs a few more books. I don't want to write them. _Hermione sighed, pushing twigs around with her fingers. She glanced up at the man. 

His hair was very black, cut below his ears in a ragged manner, as though he'd done it himself with a knife. His skin was the rough tan of an adventurer, and his eyes pierced her. He appeared to be around thirty, though the sun lines that gathered around his face made it hard to tell.

"We do have to be going. That Devil's Snare was planted, 'though I'm not sure if it was for you. I have to get back, and can't leave you here." He stood again. Hermione remained on the ground.

"I'm thirty eight. I'm not young enough to go gallivanting around the countryside. Why didn't you just take me back to Hogwarts?" Frustration was bubbling inside her heart, and helplessness wasn't helping the situation. All she wanted to do was burst out in tears and curl up in bed. 

"If I left you at Hogwarts, you'd be found." The dark eyed man was now looking intently into the distance. The path was overgrown, leaving Hermione to wonder if anyone had passed this way for decades. Huffing, Hermione stood to her weary feet and motioned for the man to keep moving. _Oh well,_ she thought to herself wearily, _at least we'll get to where we're going faster than if I sit on the ground._

~*~

Finally, they reached a clearing. The man searched around on the ground again, and finally picked up a piece of unimportant rubbish. 

"Quick," he said urgently, and Hermione grabbed onto the piece of gladwrap hurriedly.

"Where are we going?" Hermione asked, but before the man could answer, there was a sinking feeling in her stomach, and she was jerked by her navel to an unknown destination. 

The blankness around her eyes dissipated, and Hermione was able to see the clearing sight around her. The tall dark man was standing in the middle of a field- one that she recognised. 

It was the Auror training field.

"Who are you?" Hermione asked in desperation, her heart pounding and her head swimming at the revelation. The dark man just turned and smiled mysteriously at her. 

"The time will come. Now- you're coming with me." And he grabbed her arm- not gently- and began to stride off, nearly carrying the distraught Hermione behind him.

~*~

"Nope, nothing still. I do say, Minerva dear, it does appear that someone's taken it away! There's just one tiny thread…" Ruth leaned in a little closer, her nose almost touching Lianna's. "But it's too thin. I might snap it if I try to follow it. Then there'd be no reason to go hunting anyway." Ruth pulled back, her little nose wrinkling. "Who would do something like this? Soul-pulling has been against the law since the five hundreds- I don't know if there's any manuscripts for how to do it written after the three hundreds. Whoever's doing this has taken a lot of time to prepare- it just scares me to think how many other people may be sitting around with only a tenuous link between their soul and body." Ruth glanced around hastily, unconsciously, and Minerva's face was distraught.

Adrienne struggled to understand, "Ruth," the lady turned to look deeply at the dark eyed girl, "just… what… well, why would someone do that to another person?" Adrienne floundered for the words to express her emotions, even in her own mind. Lianna? Gone? It was more than she could imagine.

"Well, dear," Ruth sat herself down in her chair again, her blue eyes glancing at the table, recalling her information. She looked up at Adrienne's eyes again, "it gives the caster some very strong elements to play with. 

"I assume you know about the elements of magic- heat, cold, light, dark, dry, wet, strong, weak; correct? Do they still teach that, Minerva?" Ruth bounced a question at the witch beside her.

"Oh, in passing, in Philosophy of Magic." Minerva seemed a little subdued about this point, avoiding her friend's eyes.

Ruth shook her head at Minerva, "it's what makes all magic what it is- sort of like its DNA." She smiled again at Adrienne's incomprehension.

"It's what makes it unique. The balance of parts determines the strength, and the purpose of the magic. The soul is the very essence of heat, light, dry and strong magic- in fact, there is (depending on the person, of course,) very little of the opposites in the soul. It is what makes a person unique, and without it- well, you can see for yourself. Merely a shell. 

"As soon as the link is broken between soul and body, the body dies. Of course, while the soul is absent like this, another soul may be placed inside the body, then the other soul removed- there is still a soul in the body, and although some deterioration may occur, the body will still accept it… But that's a subject for a different time. 

"But having a soul to work with gives the magic worker an almost endless supply of energy, and _strong_ energy. Once the soul is outside the body, it is easy to forget that it is the very essence of a person- hence, taking the soul of a person is the greatest crime. 

"I'd very much like to get my hands on the person who cast this magic." Ruth's eyes lit up with a dark emotion, still piercing deep into Adrienne's. She quickly broke the contact, leaving Adrienne gasping for breath. 

"Thanks," she managed to gasp.

"Oh, sorry, dear," Ruth fluttered her hands at Adrienne, "I do that when I get worked up and I stop concentrating properly." 

Adrienne just nodded. "What can we do to get my sister back?"

"Well, what did she say when she left us?" Minerva suddenly piqued up.

Ruth answered, even though she hadn't been present; "We have to find her father."

~*~

A/N: soon this plot will stop being treacle and become toffee, it's thickening so much… Thankyou greatly to my reviewers: the chapters will continue to write themselves, I'm sure!! Enjoy, and keep dreaming,

*kitten****


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"Oh, you found her in time! Oh, Hermione, we were so worried…" Kate Tiaret, Hermione's former mentor from her days at the Auror Academy, rushed up to the woman and embraced her in a blinding hug. After a moment, she pulled back and nodded at the man who brought her in.

"You've done a wonderful job, Seeker. Thankyou so much; we owe our lives to you." There were tears shining in Kate's grey green eyes. Hermione turned to look at the man who, apparently, had rescued her.

"Thankyou," Hermione added. The man's eyes twinkled a little, before he turned and left, a hint of smile aching at the edges of his mouth.

"Oh, Hermione, we were so worried- we heard about the plant too late, and Candace had a vision that you were entrapped. We sent Seeker- but we weren't sure if he'd make it in time. Oh, I'm so glad you're here…" 

Hermione smiled at the aging blonde woman. She had to be older than sixty, yet her magical blood kept her looking not a day over forty. "I'm glad he found me too. What's been happening?"

Kate frowned slightly, "don't you read the news, dear?"

Hermione chuckled humourlessly, "I never read the Daily Prophet- a remanent from my childhood days and Rita Skeeter's marvellous reporting. And there's just not much else that keeps up to date as much."

"Oh, in that case, I'll show you the files."

Hermione groaned: "not files! I'm a teacher; I spend all my time reading paperwork!"

Kate smiled mysteriously, "we've updated the way we display our information. Let's go."

Kate led a baffled, but curious Hermione up the many levels of the Auror Training Complex to the records department. In the bright, breezy room there were shelves and shelves of Pensieves. 

"Wow… that's a lot of memories!" Hermione marvelled at the thought of immersing herself into all the thoughts of her former colleagues. "But how do you collate?"

Kate smiled broadly. "Here- we take a small amount of the liquid in the pensieve and put them all together, one per day, so we can see far more than one pair of eyes ever could. It's far better than the Daily Prophet." Kate dipped her head towards the larger pensieves further down.

"Ah, here we are, the day it all began. At least, we think so. Shall we?" Hermione nodded, and they immersed themselves in the pensieve's memories. 

Hermione had the distinct impression of falling, head over heels, into nothing, before she found herself standing again, Kate beside her, looking at an unfamiliar house, in an unfamiliar street.

"The outskirts of Muggle London. An unremarkable house- except, we detected traces of forbidden magic emanating from it. One of our best was put on the job. These are his memories." The women began to walk into the house. They pushed through the unlocked door, Kate leading the way.

"I've studied these memories so often, I know the floor plan. Here- a bedroom. We've ascertained that the perpetrator is female. That's about it, however." Hermione walked into the scrupulously clean bedroom. She opened drawers, gazed into mirrors (_does my hair really look like that?_), opened cupboards, looking for something. 

"We've double checked and triple checked this room, Hermione. We've double ad triple checked the entire damned house, and we've found nothing. Nothing at all." Kate's frustration was evident in her flared nostrils, and her furrowed brow. Hermione looked back at the mirror. 

"This doesn't feel right. The mirror's got handprints all over it, in a meticulously clean room. What is it with this mirror?" Hermione looked at it from every angle, before pressing her hands against the silver glass. To her shock, the mirror slid a small way inwards, then proceeded to slide upwards. Kate gasped.

"On hydraulic slides- this woman's not only well-planned, she's damned rich." Hermione gazed at the contents of the hollow in the wall. There were rack after rack of test tubes, tightly stoppered with pieces of hand-carved wood, containing wisps of smoke. Kate gasped again.

"This is what we were looking for! These are…"

"Souls." Hermione finished, her stomach uneasy. She peered further back- empty vials were still waiting to be filled. "Where would a Muggle get this sort of information?"

"Well," Kate replied, "There were a few untranslated manuscripts in a Muggle university, but they were almost unreadable, even to our experts. And she's not a Muggle."

Hermione glanced, shocked, at the woman who had been her mentor and best friend for a few of the most driven years of her life.

"She's a renegade.

"She was a witch; an extraordinarily powerful one, even at an early age. She was registered to go to Hogwarts, but at the age of nine, when she was beginning puberty, she just disappeared. Off the Hogwarts register, off the Birth Records, off the face of the world, apparently. She became a Muggle, to all intents and purposes. It seems, her parents were strict Catholics, and were punishing her for the inexplicable things that happened around her. So she made herself a Muggle."

"She made herself a _Muggle_?! Would the magic allow that?" Hermione was aghast.

Kate shook her head, sadly, "No, the magic wouldn't allow that. She was outwardly a Muggle, but inwardly a very powerful, untrained Witch. She eventually left home at the age of fifteen, and began working the streets."

Hermione winced at the reference, thanking Merlin that she had open parents.

"Her hatred grew during that time, and began to blossom when she learned about the Wizarding community. She became obsessed with finding a way to bring the community that had, apparently, failed her to justice."

"And this is part of her justice? Stealing souls?" Hermione questioned, motioning at the vials behind her.

"No. This is the means to her justice." Kate turned away, not wanting to talk anymore. "Let's go back. I should tell the others about this." 

Hermione and Kate pulled themselves out of the memories in the pensieve, standing again in the rows of the library. Kate seemed disturbed; she motioned for Hermione to follow her. 

They walked up more stairs (_Wizards should invent elevators,_ Hermione decided) before eventually reaching the top level of the Auror Training Complex. It was an open-topped building- or at least it appeared that way. The roof was charmed to be invisible, as were the walls. There were paintings floating in mid-air where the walls actually were. It had always made Hermione feel giddy, and today was no exception.

"Kiraten, we've found Hermione, and Hermione's discovered what was hiding in those thoughts." Kiraten spun around in his chair, his grey hair brushed neatly, his grey suit charmed to match. His brown eyes smiled at Hermione.

"Daughter- well done. Sister- I will speak to the child alone now. Fill out a Pensieve, and remind Seeker to do the same." Kate nodded at the strange man, turning and leaving Hermione to talk to Kiraten.

"Father," Hermione bowed as she addressed the man who had been her boss for a few years of her life. 

"Daughter." He inclined his head also. "I am glad you are found. I had a dream that you would be found at Hogwarts. I was unaware that it would be by a plant." Hermione smiled politely at the man's odd sense of humour. "I have arranged rooms for you here. You may send an owl to Hogwarts to ensure that there is no panic over your disappearance. Here you will work with Kate on the problem at hand. You have already shown your worth, Hermione," he spoke over her unvoiced protest. "And we need you here." 

Hermione hung her head, betrayed by the man's calm words. "I will follow your wishes, Father. Thankyou for your need." Kiraten nodded, and she turned and walked from the room, dismissed.

Inwardly, Hermione's mind rejoiced. _Finally,_ she pronounced to her heavy heart,_ a chance to make a significant difference. To redeem myself._

~*~

A/N: This is longer than 'Freefalling' now, making it my latest epic. Maybe my Opus? 

Thankyou to my reviewers, thankyou to my readers, thankyou to fanfiction.net.

*kitten


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

"I wish Dumbledore were here." Minerva mumbled into her hands. "I'm not made for this. This was supposed to be the end of war, the end of evil."

Adrienne replied to her Aunt's murmurings, even though they were rhetorical. "Aunt Minerva, evil will always exist. Without evil, good wouldn't exist either. Things need opposites to define them. Good is what evil is not."

Minerva nodded her head; Ruth nodded also. They still sat around the table, weary but unsure of what to do. They had been there all night. None had slept much- and when they had, it had been on the table. 

All three jumped at the sound of scratching on the window.

"Oh- it's an owl." Minerva opened her window to let the bird in. It relieved itself of its burden, ate the chocolate it was given then left. Minerva closed the window behind it.

"It's from mama," Adrienne read the parchment hastily, "she's going back into the ranks on special consignment. She says they've discovered something. I think," Adrienne looked directly at Ruth, "that you will find out who's been stealing souls soon. Mama's offered to let us in on the secrets."

After Minerva signed Varimont in as Headmistress in her absence, and it was decided that Lianna would remain in the care of Poppy whilst they were gone, the three women Apparated to the outer grounds of the Auror Training Complex.

"It's charmed, like Hogwarts. Can't Apparate onto the grounds." Minerva explained.

"The Aurors have a floor at the Ministry of Magic," Ruth continued, "but there they are subject to the whims of the Minister of Magic. They keep a token force there, whilst keeping the majority here. Their big boss lives here, as do all the Aurors." They walked up to the huge, multi-storeyed building, and knocked on the doors. After a few moments' wait, they were admitted.

"Hermione Granger? I'll just go and find her for you. Wait here please," The attendant smiled pleasantly at them, then turned and left them sitting in a comfortable room. The colours were warm, but neutral, large couches and a coffee table covered in Wizarding magazines. It was like a doctor's sitting room. Adrienne stood to look out the window, gazing into the distance over the long, grassy paddocks and into the distance at the blue mountain ranges and dark forests. 

"All Auror ground." At the voice, Adrienne spun around and threw herself into her mother's arms.

"Didn't know where you'd gone, mama. I was worried." 

"So was I- I got eaten by a Devil's Snare just into the Forbidden forest near the train stop. An Auror rescued me, and brought me back here. They've asked me- well, told me, really- that they need my help on this case. 

"Hello, Minerva, and hello…" Hermione trailed off for a moment, but then smiled. "Ruth Akasha. Nice to finally meet you after having read so much about you. You have some interesting theories- I'd like to talk about them when we get the chance." Hermione smiled. She seemed more at ease here, and Adrienne could already see the slight increase in confidence in her mother's stride. 

"Indeed, Hermione Granger, it's nice to see you also, after hearing so much about you. You are younger than I had imagined- and less unhappy." Ruth's eyes twinkled. Hermione smiled and shook her head.

"If I had been left to myself, I'd be a mole by now. I'm only this way because of my daughters. They didn't let me wallow in my self pity for too long," she sent a grin to Adrienne.

"Ah, good. The vessel of your salvation from the act of your destruction. Who would have thought?" Ruth's face was alight with something, and Hermione turned to gaze for a long moment at her. 

"Yes, who would have thought?" Hermione shook her head and motioned for the ladies to follow her. "I'll show you what's going on. I've prepared a Pensieve so I can collate all the data- it's right in here." Hermione ushered them into a small room, with a single Pensieve on a stand in the middle. Adrienne marvelled at its simple elegance: white soapstone, smoothly rounded on a fluted stand of the same material. It was filled with some sort of cloud, and she leaned in to look at it closer.

"Yes," Hermione said, "let's all have a look."

~*~

They fell into the scene at the house. They watched as Hermione and Kate walked through the house, and marvelled at the hidden cache of souls.

Ruth growled, "This girl's a pro. No idea how she's done it. She's stolen this many souls- more!- and we haven't noticed before now. I don't know how she could have done it."

Minerva frowned. "Who is this, Hermione?" She motioned at Kate.

"Kate Tiaret. My former mentor, from when I was in the Auror ranks."

"Her face seems familiar, for some reason. I will recognise it, I'm sure."

"Maybe you taught her, Minerva." Hermione was the voice of reason. Minerva kept her pursued lips, however.

"We'll see."

Adrienne looked at the blonde woman with alive green eyes with a little curiosity, then turned to look intently at the racks of soul bottles.

"What has she made the corks out of?" She questioned her mother. 

Hermione moved in to look. "I don't know. I'll analyse one back at the lab. They've got one or two- they didn't want to take more, or she might know we've found out her hiding spot."

"Mama…" Adrienne glanced cautiously at her mother, "she's stolen Lianna's soul."

The words cut through the room, leaving a cold silence; Hermione's face registered shock, drained of all colour, and she sank to the ground. 

"Lianna? My little girl? She's got my little girl's soul? What can I do? What can I do?" She fell silent, and they fell out of the memories suddenly, flinging back onto the floor of the small room they had been standing in. 

"I wasn't there, I didn't help. I could have saved her- why wasn't I there?" Hermione's self doubts trickled out of her mouth, and Adrienne crawled over to her mother and held her.

"I couldn't help her either, mama, and I was right there." Adrienne began to cry, and Hermione followed suit. Ruth and Minerva stood, brushed themselves off and retreated to the waiting room.

"Mama, Lianna said that we have to find her father. Before she left, she said we'd better find her father." Adrienne's dark eyes gazed at her mother. Hermione lifted her tearstained face to look at her daughter.

"You know who they are?"

Adrienne nodded.

"You can find him?"

Adrienne shifted her gaze to the floor. "As far as anyone knows, mama, the last time Lianna's father was seen was when you last saw him."

"He's dead?" Hermione gasped. Adrienne shook her head.

"I don't think so."

"Then who… who is he?" Hermione visibly braced herself, not wanting to know.

"Draco Malfoy." Hermione closed her eyes and swallowed this piece of information. 

"Draco Malfoy." She echoed. "I didn't think he was there."

"Apparently so. And we have to find him."

Hermione rested her head on her daughter's shoulder. "He hasn't been seen, or heard from, for longer than you've been alive. He just disappeared. He'll be near-impossible to find."

"I know. But I need my sister- and she needs us."

"I know."

~*~

A/N: more thanks to reviewers. You guys (and girls) are the best.

*kitten


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

"Draco Malfoy?" Kate Tiaret scrunched her nose a little. "He hasn't been heard from for over eighteen years. Hermione, you were the last one to talk to him. What can you remember?" Hermione shrugged, still slightly in shock. They were in Kate's office, all huddled into large, individual couches. Minerva looked out the window; Ruth gazed intently at Kate. It was perceivable that Kate found this off-putting, and didn't even make eye contact with the woman. Adrienne had her knees pulled up to her torso, her shoes on the floor.

"Nothing much. I keep wondering if maybe we can create a locating charm." 

Kate shrugged. "He must be taking some measures if he's been unaccounted for these past eighteen years."

"But nobody's been looking for him, for the past eighteen years." Hermione countered. "He's the son of a dead Death Eater, and his mother's dead, too; the estates were reclaimed by the Ministry; nobody's had any need or want to contact him for the past eighteen years!" Hermione, a little worked up by this talk, slumped back into her chair, her eyes fading again. "I want to save my baby," she muttered.

"We can use Lianna's DNA." Adrienne said. Kate, Ruth and Minerva turned to look at her, shocked. Kate spoke up.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, Ruth used the word DNA to explain what makes spells unique- I gather it's what makes humans unique, too. But, children are parts of their parents- so, if we use some of Lianna's DNA, figure out which bits belong to Draco, then we can use that as the basis for the tracking spell."

"You have your mother's mind," Kate beamed.

"But more ingenuity," Hermione added. "It could work. We've got my DNA to contrast with; and Lianna's not going to complain. All we need is a lab with the equipment." There was light, and purpose in Hermione's gaze again.

"I'm sure I can arrange it," Ruth smiled. Minerva added, "And whatever we can't get, I'll transfigure."

"We can make a room at Hogwarts. It'll be safe there, and we'll all be free to work." Adrienne could feel her cheeks flushing with determination. "And if we need help, we've got all the other teachers right at our fingertips."

Hermione nodded, "do you think you could loan me to Hogwarts, Kate?"

Kate nodded in return, "I think it would be appropriate, under the circumstances. I'll talk to Kiraten about it. You'll be there by the end of the day."

Hermione sighed, before smiling at her daughter. Adrienne smiled back. "We're going to save Lianna."

~*~

"There we go, one very meticulously transfigured lab. Even Snape would be willing to work in this lab," Varimont smiled mischievously at Hermione, and winked at Adrienne when her mother wasn't looking. Minerva had overturned the task to her, needing rest. Adrienne gave a start- did Varimont know? How? Adrienne glanced at herself in the stainless steel bench top- well; she did look a little like her father. She would never have admitted it to herself before, but she didn't mind. She knew who he was, at least. It was a shock to know that a man who had intimidated her for such a long time was actually her father. Adrienne wondered if she would ever be able to tell her mother.

"Ri? You're looking pensive." Hermione stood next to her daughter, and sighed inwardly. Her daughter- the introvert. Adrienne's eyes turned to gaze at her mother.

"Yes, I am a little. It's all a bit of a shock."

"You found out, two days ago, didn't you?"

"Yes." Adrienne turned to look back at the bench top. 

"He's still alive, isn't he." 

Adrienne didn't answer. Hermione knew. She just didn't want to admit it to herself. "I don't want to know, do I?"

Adrienne shrugged. "That's for you to decide. But I think you know anyway."

Hermione glanced at her daughter. Yes, she did know.

"I told myself, when I decided to save the money for the spell, that I didn't want to know. But I think I was lying to myself. I did want to know. Just so I had someone to hate. And do you know what?"

Adrienne shook her head, absently.

"You are both born to the only two men that attended that revel that I could not possibly hate." Hermione paused for a moment more, then turned and walked from the room. 

Adrienne watched the sunset from the window.

There was a soft shuffling behind Adrienne, and her senses, although before attuned to her racing, inward thoughts turned outward, suddenly. She didn't turn around, but used all her other senses to try to pick the person behind her. The person stopped behind her. Adrienne finally turned her head to see who it was, unable to keep where she was.

It was Snape. He didn't look at her; instead, he stared out the window at the fading sunset.

"You are my daughter." Adrienne turned to look out the window again. 

"Yes," she replied quietly. Somehow, her voice was much steadier than it felt.

"Good," he murmured. Silence descended again.

Finally, the last edge of the shimmering sun fell below the horizon, leaving the world cloaked in ever-deepening darkness.

"Good," Snape repeated, then turned and walked out, as silently as he had arrived.

"Good," Adrienne whispered after the door had closed behind him. She was startled to notice tears falling down her face. She gave in to them, crouched to the floor, and wept.

~*~

A/N: Oh, this was a beautiful day to write. Thanks to reviewers; keep dreaming those beautiful dreams of yours.

*kitten


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Blink. Blink. Blink. Adrienne watched her sister's rhythmic flicking eyelids in fascination. Her soul was elsewhere, captured in a glass vial, stoppered with a hand-carved cork: yet her body lived on in the anticipation of reuniting with it. Adrienne smiled at her sister's placid body before walking from the room. Mama had already begun work, and Poppy would see to Lianna today. Adrienne passed through the wall unflinchingly, before padding down the comfortingly cold and familiar hallways. She found her way effortlessly to the room that was now their laboratory. She pushed open the handle-less door, amazed again at the sheer _cleanliness_ of the room, its stainless steel bench tops, racks of transparent glass apparatus, scrupulously clean Bunsen burners ("Not for long!" Hermione had exclaimed at their metamorphosis), clean windows viewing out onto the luxurious green grounds and a floor of polished stone. The perfect laboratory. 

"Oh, there you are Ri. Quick, I think I'm getting somewhere here. What do you think?"

"Mama, what are all these little peaks?"

"Oh, they're the DNA maps. See how they align here, and here, and here? That's what we're looking for. That's where my DNA matches with Lianna's. The bits that don't fit- we assume they come from the father."

"Oh. Ok. Where do we go from here?"

"I was thinking maybe use the parchment with the DNA present?"

"No, wouldn't work. How about we work out how to isolate the partial DNA, then use the normal locator spell on that?"

"Nope- can't work with segmented DNA. Too complex, and once you chop it up, it never really works like it's supposed to. It's shaped as a double helix, with phosphate groups here, here and here. The nitrogen groups are here, here and here- they're labelled G, T, C, or A. Chop it up, it's useless, see?" Hermione drew diagrams on the back of the paper printout. 

"Oh, right. Ok, so maybe just use Lianna's DNA? With an exception-curse keyed in to your DNA?"

"That might work- though that sounds like potion work."

"That's alright. I'll work with him if you don't want to."

"We'd better all work together. Let's get it all mapped out first, then we can be organised and incorporate him for specific tasks only, and minimise wastage of time."

"Sure, mama. Sounds good. Let's see…" Adrienne and Hermione put their heads together, and soon had a quite formidable list put together. 

"Start work, shall we?"

"Sure, mama. You want to research, or shall I?"

"Both. Let's get out of this lab, take Lianna for a walk down near the lake, eat lunch. My head's beginning to fog up."

"Ok. Take the Potions book you're so fond of, I'll fossick for that Muggle science book that you were showing me a few months ago."

"Ok. And I'll collect lunch; you collect Lianna."

"Ok."

And so they set out on their different courses, colleting what they had decided upon, and meeting again near the tall-roofed entryway. They walked in silence out to the sunlit garden landscapes of the Hogwarts grounds. Soon they were both immersed in their books, the food and studying the landscape. It was perhaps the calm in the storm.

~*~

"One more. Just one more."

"Look, I told you already. They know where I live- they've been there. They've taken two of my souls. I will not be ignored!" She pounded her hand on the table, making the man jump; his eyes skittered to see where the closest exit was.

"Don't even think of avoiding me. I will not be bargained up. I will offer you two souls for one quater of your bloodpot. No more."

"But Morana…" 

"That's Asa'Morana to you! And not one, single but. I know exactly what I want, and I will get it, with or without this trade."

"I'm the only one who performs this ritual in this country!"

"Then I'll go to a different country," she hissed, looking down into his wrinkled, brown face. "And your pretty eyes will fade right back."

The man began to shake violently, his eyes quavering, yet captive to Asa'Morana's volatile gaze. "You'll destroy us all," he hissed vehemently.

"If I get my way, yes, I damn well will." And with this, she spun around and stalked towards the door.

"Wait!" The little withered man bade her, "I will take your price… I will take your price." 

Asa'Morana stopped, slowly turning back to the man, taking in his shaking hands, his pitifully desperate eyes. "Ok. Here." She fished out two vials from her coat, placed them carefully on the counter. The man grabbed them up with greedy hands.

"And this one is for your willingness to trade with me, and your closed mouth," Asa'Morana placed one more on the table, winked slyly at the man before stalking out, slamming the door behind her. 

She could still see the widening of his eyes in gratitude as she gave him the extra soul. She snickered at the irony of the scene. She strode back out onto the dark alley, moving confidently to the bustling street beyond. 

"Enjoy it," Asa'Morana whispered to herself, "while you can."

~*~

A/N: Thanks to my lovely reviewers- hope I haven't kept you in too much suspense- I'm drowning in homework and life in general. 

Sweet dreams,

*kitten


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

"Yes, I understand. As soon as possible. I'll get right on it. Right. Bye." Meredith put down the phone, mystified, her hand still scribbling down the words. 

"Who was that, honey?" Harry Potter slipped his arms around his wife's waist, marvelling at just how beautiful she was, even now, twenty-two years after they had been married.

"Oh, the newspaper called. Strange happenings in the outer suburbs. I have to go and have a look, see if there's anything worthwhile reporting on."

"What sort of happenings?" Harry asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Rowena didn't say. I guess it's up to me to figure that out. Why?" Meredith turned to look into Harry's cat-green eyes.

"I just don't feel right about all this. Kate gave me a call the other day, said that there's a woman on the loose who wants to destroy the entire wizarding world."

"Oh. I thought that was the reason we straddle these two worlds, to build links, to make people like that see that it's not the way it's supposed to be?" Meredith's blue eyes sparked, and Harry reached an arm around her shoulders. 

"Yes, that's the idea. But you can't blanket a problem. I'll come with you. Just so the odds are in our favour."

"Ok, but you're taking notes," Meredith smiled, reassured that her husband cared so much about her. "I'll write a message for Jeremy. Just so he doesn't panic."

"Good idea. Shall we be going?" Harry motioned for his wife to leave the room before him, closing the door gently behind himself. 

~*~

It was hours later when Jeremy returned home to an empty house. He read the note, and thought nothing of his parent's absence. But, when he had cooked his own dinner, eaten it, done his dishes and watched a few hours of meaningless television, he decided it was warranted for him to begin to worry.

Jeremy found some parchment in a drawer, quill and ink on his desk in his room. He scribbled down a note, folded it, then took it to the fireplace and Flooed it to Hogwarts. 

He just couldn't think of anywhere else to send it.

~*~

Minerva took the piece of parchment- somewhat smudged, and smeared with soot, out to the lake. 

"Hermione, dear, I believe this is a problem to be encountered." She handed over the parchment, and wilted to the ground. She creaked and groaned, but ended up somewhat graciously upon her rear, her skirts fluffed out around her like a cushion. 

"Adrienne, read this." Hermione handed the scrap over to her daughter, who scanned the words quickly.

"What does he mean, didn't come home? Harry Potter destroyed Voldemort!" Adrienne held the parchment out in disbelief. "And his wife wasn't a weakling of any sort. She graduated top of her year, didn't she?"

Hermione nodded, but looked at the ground. She looked up at Minerva. "Better invite him to stay for a while." Minerva nodded sadly. Adrienne felt steam rising within herself. What was she not understanding?

"I don't understand! What is going on? Why is there not hope that Harry Potter just got lost!" Adrienne stood to her feet, her hands pleading.

Hermione looked up at her daughter, her face brightened by an angry flush. "Adrienne, if that woman has the ability to soul steal, she is more than capable of wiping Harry Potter, and his lovely wife, right from the face of the earth. Soul magic is about a hundred times stronger than Avada Kedavra, stronger in any way. Where Avada Kedavra is based on dark and weakness, soul magic is based on light and strength. It would burn the entire world up if it could- if it weren't contained in bodies. Souls are amongst the most powerful forces in the world. Stronger than anything, maybe, as they are a balance of all the elements. Harry wouldn't stand a chance," Hermione broke off, turning her face away. Adrienne didn't need to see her face to know the anger and hurt to be found there. 

Minerva climbed back to her feet haltingly, turning and leaving back for her offices without saying a word.

"What happens when she uses a soul for her magic?" Adrienne asked, though fearful of the answer.

"Someone, who has previously been listless, becomes permanently asleep." Hermione muttered. Adrienne gazed worriedly at her sister, though Lianna appeared to be still breathing, her eyes open and gazing blankly at the world around her. A living doll. Adrienne handed her mother a handkerchief, and waited to meet Jeremy. 

~*~

"Meddling peasants. They'll think twice, next time. My souls are my own- now." Another morose chuckle. "Ah, this is getting to me. I'm laughing at my own jokes. But, company is far too intrusive. Much better for me to laugh at my own jokes than to keep company that doesn't even get it when I make jokes." She placed another two vials onto the rack, stoppered tightly. "Better no company than pointless company, yes." She slid the mirror back down and gazed into it, at her inwardly lit blue eyes, her dark brown silky smooth hair, her red lips upturned thoughtfully. "Better my own company," she muttered, turning away from the mirror. "Much better."

~*~

A/N: Another chapter for you all. Thanks and kisses to all my reviewers- you guys are awesome. 

*kitten


	21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

"It's just not right," Jeremy muttered as he looked at his parents' listless forms. 

"You're lucky they were found," Kate reminded him. 

"That's what you think. I hate seeing my parents like this. They're just- invalids." Jeremy looked away from both the small blonde woman and his parents, sitting calmly and gazing blankly into the distance. "They're not like that."

"It's ok, dear. How about you go and eat dinner now?" Kate pushed the boy out of the room, closing the door behind him. She turned back to look at Harry and Meredith.

"Ah, two more casualties. I guess we may all be by the end of this." Kate sighed, motioned to Poppy that she could take them now, and walked out into the cold corridor. She shivered slightly. "Drafty," she mentioned to the wind. Her feet took her out of Hogwarts, down the path and outside the grounds. Here, she apparated back to the Auror Training Facility. "Too much damned walking in security."

~*~

Jeremy finally found his way to the Great Hall, although his feet kept trying to take him somewhere else. "I've been gone too long," he muttered under his breath, trying to ignore Sir Caddogan in the portrait beside him, yelling at him ("Stand and fight, you mangy cur!"). 

The Great Hall seemed somehow empty without a thousand mumbling teenagers seated at the long tables, and it was incredibly weird to be sitting at the Teacher's Table. 

"Hi, Professor Varimont, may I sit here?" Varimont winked at the boy, before nodding. 

"Go for it, my boy. How have things been- I mean, apart from the panic over your parents. How's University?" Varimont's smile was sympathetic, and Jeremy knew that he had to get his mind onto other things.

"Not bad- this is my last year, fortunately. The assignments are getting to be quite overwhelming."

"What were you studying again, dear?" Varimont played the old lady so well, but, after having been a student at Hogwarts for seven years, Jeremy wasn't fooled.

"Transfiguration and Charms majors in my Bachelor of Magic. I considered doing Magical Methods, but decided that a general degree would be better for me, because I would be able to personalise it more."

Varimont nodded, as though she had not heard this before. "And are you enjoying it?"

"Yes, and no. There is not as much community as there was here- and fending for myself lost its novelty a long time ago. I have a few friends that I have kept contact with, but many more that I have lost. The people in my degree are all nice enough- but there's too many of them to know them all. It's all just a bit too impersonal." Jeremy looked down at his plate- yes, food there now. He began to eat.

Adrienne and Hermione entered the room, Lianna trailing after. 

"Oh, Jeremy…" Adrienne rushed over to Jeremy, a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her, seeing in her eyes an echo of the despair in his own. He glanced over at Lianna, understanding.

"I really want to find this woman, Adrienne. I want my parents back," He had to turn away, so she wouldn't see the tears threatening in his eyes. Adrienne sat down beside Jeremy, and Hermione sat with Lianna between her and Adrienne. She began to feed her daughter, as well as herself. Adrienne just looked at the food on her plate. She looked back at Jeremy, who seemed to be eating his food out of no real reason but to occupy his time. 

Adrienne sighed. This was all just too hard. Too many people were being hurt. If not for the innate rationality of her mind, she might have decided to do something rash. She might have decided to go on a midnight rampage into the crazy woman's house and break open test tubes; or she might have decided to do something slightly less suicidal- like jump from a turret of the Hogwarts walls.

But as it was, she just sighed again and went back to pushing food around her plate, desperately wishing that Lianna were awake to blurt out all her thoughts, to smile her sparkling smile and convince by her mere presence that everything was going to be ok. Adrienne fought down the bubbling tears that fought their way up her chest to sting in her eyes. She could feel the frustration at being able to do nothing clenching its teeth into her gut and gnawing on her innards. 

_This is despair,_ Adrienne thought abstractly, staring at her uneaten food and fighting to keep from weeping, _this will not help me in the slightest._ She again wished that Lianna were awake to make everything seem ok. They were, she had decided, flip sides of the same coin. Lianna was day, Adrienne, night. Together, they made a 24-hour cycle- they were whole. When lacking each other, there was either despair, in Adrienne's case, or lack of depth, in Lianna's case. 

Adrienne could feel that she would lose the battle with her tears if she continued on in her current thoughts, so she deliberately turned her thoughts to what she could do with the DNA they had collected. Adrienne pondered this for a while, and, when she looked down again, realised that she had eaten most of what was on her plate. She stopped chewing in amazement, before resuming, somehow feeling a little better at having some hope in this desperate situation.

"Hey, Ri, do we have a plan to get this woman?" Jeremy asked, looking over at her from under his too-long fringe. 

"Umm- not really. We're actually trying to locate Draco Malfoy at the moment." Adrienne looked down at her food.

There was a silence from Jeremy. "Why are we looking for a Malfoy? Why would we bother? What does he know?"

"It's what he doesn't know that we need. I don't know. We're chasing ghost trails at the moment. If we go and raid the woman's house, she may just decide to destroy the entire world today. If we wait until tomorrow, she may do it tonight and we will have done nothing to save ourselves. I just don't know where to turn." Adrienne turned her face away from Jeremy, looking at her empty sister. Hermione was sitting beyond her, her face weary and forlorn.

"But," Adrienne turned back to Jeremy, "We will find a way to win. We managed to beat Voldemort in the end- the most feared dark wizard in the history of magic. We will find a way to beat this woman!" Adrienne fought to keep her voice level. Jeremy smiled weakly, nodded hopefully. 

"We will find a way."

~*~

A/N: ok, slow chapter. Sorry about not updating for a while- I went away for a week. Now it's back to the hard slog of normal life. 


	22. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

"Asa'Morana," she said boldly as she stared into the mirror. "A name for the whole world to fear. I will hold the secrets to life and death in my hand, in my mind, and nobody will take them away from me!" She released a cackle that had been mounting for hours. She pressed her hand firmly against the mirror in the room and it depressed with a click, before sliding up inside the wall, out of sight. She watched her face until it disappeared. 

"Now, let me see." The woman grasped an empty test tube, retrieved a piece of wood from the beaker which held pieces of roughly cut wood, and removed a sharp knife from the inside of her sleeve. She depressed one of the walls of the compartment and took out a large bundle of candles, tied together with raffia. She smiled dangerously. "More work today- no rest for the wicked," She ranted as she closed the wall again. She flicked her hair back over her shoulders, taking the tools of her trade out into the garden. She collected a piece of Ivy charcoal and freshened up her pentagram, before setting up the candles. While she did this, she began to chant under her breath softly; hardly even aware of what she was doing. Her eyes half closed in the rapture of releasing her pent-up magic, her face flushed with excitement. She gently stepped within her pentagram and closed it with the charcoal. She began to light the candles in order of placement, all the while elation from her liberated magic singing through her veins. Finally, she seated herself within the centre of the star, rough wood in her left hand, carving knife in her right. She closed her bright eyes and began to travel the paths of darkness, sliding into the lay lines of the earth, feeling the tug of souls around her on every side. 

She opened the eyes of her soul, able to see the beautiful auras of the souls where she was. She could never be quite sure where she was geographically, because the ways of the spirit were never as that of the physical. She observed the closed eyes of all the swirling auras around her. Finally, she found a soul coloured deep blue with strands of silver echoing in it. _Perfect_, she exulted to herself, _the very colour I'm missing from my rainbow._

Gently, she outstretched her own soul arm, seeing the deep, angry, blood red swirling violently around her, and the threads of bitter green, ripples of dark black. She stroked the aura before her, gently coaxing it away from the body it had resided in for so long. _Come with me,_ she said lovingly, _and I'll show you things you never imagined…_

Suddenly, the eyes of the deep blue aura snapped open, blazing out pure silver light. Asa'Morana pulled her arm back, jolted back, pulling her magic around her. The eyes turned their blazing gaze on her, and she felt herself known. She could feel herself quivering, and was aware only dimly of the whimpering noises she was making. 

_Away from me, demon,_ the soul-voice snarled, its bright silver eye-light flashing red before returning to its normal silver. Asa'Morana stood as a rabbit before headlights; spotted, and suddenly unable to get away. _You have no balance- you have no right to be roaming these highways. Return to where you came from, and do not bother me again. I have no time for this._ Then the entire soul disappeared from before her spirit-eyes, and she felt herself jolted to her body again.

Asa'Morana sat shaking in the centre of her pentagram, sweating, and feeling the bruises at her pressure points beginning, from being so brutally thrown back into her body. She was sure that the soul she had encountered knew exactly what pain she would be in for the next few days, and would take advantage of it. She sat quaking in the pentagram in the dying light of the day, feeling the heat stealing from her body. She reluctantly looked down at her hands, and saw that in her vial, stoppered with a perfectly carved skull, a sluggish, dark green mist was collected. Asa'Morana shrieked and threw the vial out of pentagram, her magical shield destroying the vial and stopper on the way through. The dark green mist began to creep along the inner wall of the shield, unable to escape. It encircled the walls, blocking her from all sight, then began to seep down towards her. Asa'Morana shrieked, and for the first time in her life, felt true fear. 

But the fear was nothing beside the pain.

~*~

Lianna jolted. Adrienne stared at her. 

The blonde girl jolted again. 

"Oh, dear," Ruth said softly from her vantage point of the chair, "I think that her soul has been released from its cage. The people over at the Auror place were going to unstopper their vials today- that's why I'm still here. Hold onto my shoulders, dear," Ruth walked over to the bed Lianna was seated upon, before she leaned into Lianna's face, and Adrienne had to quickly grab the woman's shoulders so that she didn't smash face-first into her sister. Adrienne watched in fascination for moments as Ruth's eyes burned into her sister's. It almost seemed as though there were an optic connection; Adrienne could see lights burning their way between bodies. 

But moments turned into minutes, and minutes turned into hours, and Adrienne's arms began to ache desperately. Ruth's arms began to feel cold, and her eyes began to dim slightly. Adrienne thought desperately about what to do, and eventually reached over for her own Pepper Up potion which was sitting on the table beside the bed and using the spoon to push some into the older woman's mouth. Adrienne then swallowed some herself, and, though her arms still ached, and her back hurt, her mind began to awake a little. 

Finally, after an hour and a half, Ruth shook herself and leaned back. 

"Damn and damn!" she swore, wringing her hands. Adrienne peered into her sister's eyes, but saw nothing but the blankness that had been there before. She looked to Ruth.

"Too far away. She was obviously tangled in a lay-line. It's carried her half-way across the world. I don't know anyone who can find her now. It's up to her to make her way home. All we can do is look after her body for her." Ruth stared at the ground, somehow believing that this was her fault, that she had failed. Adrienne placed a hand on Ruth's arm, feeling her arm quiver with the effort of moving it and smiling inwardly at it. 

"She's strong, Ruth. She'll find her way home to us. Right now, we've got to find her father."

"Why, Adrienne? If she's free, why do we still need her father?" Ruth's eyes seemed distant, lost in tears.

"I don't know exactly; I just know that if Lianna asked me to get her father for her, I would go to the ends of the earth to find him for her- and she asked." Adrienne looked out the window at the birds frolicking in the trees, knowing that she would never be able to reclaim her innocence- no, her naivety- now.

Somehow, it didn't faze her.

~*~

A/N: Another chapter- thankyou so much to all my reviewers! You guys are awesome.

*kitten


	23. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

_Ssssswirl… sswirl… swirl, where am I? Who am I? I am… I am a girl… I am alone… I am not alone- I am not alone! Her eyes blazed open, glaring at the midnight world around her. There- around her leg. Bright gold link of thread, dragging her. She prised the thread off her, stood tall, her eyes blazing golden light into the darkness. Around her, figures of different hues, all blundering with closed eyes. With no plan, and indignant anger, she began to walk._

~*~

"Ok, ragwort now." Adrienne scraped the thinly sliced plant into the cauldron of bubbling liquid, then stirred it twice clockwise, twice anticlockwise. Then she let it alone, watching until time was up.

"Very good. This should work." Snape turned off the flame, before allowing Adrienne to bottle the viscous liquid. She grasped the vellum on the table, and the dove's feather quill, dipping the quill into the dark potion. She began to mutter under her breath, Latin words that had been long rehearsed. Her hand began to sketch a map.

Before her very eyes, she could see a map of the world. She watched in fascination as the lines ran together, making definable land- "He's in France?"

"Not just any France, Miss Granger." Snape growled. "He knew what he was doing, this boy. He's in the only part of France that remains Celtic. There are so many witches and wizards there, nobody would even look twice at him." He laughed darkly. 

"Shouldn't we go?"

"_You_ go, you mean. I take no part in this fool's venture. You'd better think up a good story, however. I believe Mr. Malfoy would really like to know exactly _why_ you went to all this trouble to find him." Then Snape turned on his heel and stalked out, exactly how she remembered him. Adrienne laughed softly at his predictability, then sprayed the fixing agent on the map. She waved her wand at the room, freezing it so she could do her washing up later. She left to go find her mother.

~*~

"Oh, look, dear. Let me do this." Hermione muttered incantation after incantation; Adrienne watched as there appeared dots on the page- then they began to move, and names appeared beside their spots. Hermione peered at the map intently. Finally, she announced, "aha! Got you now, Malfoy! Here he is." She pointed to a dot on the map, moving slowly in the countryside.

"What do you reckon we give him a visit?" Hermione almost began to walk from the room before she noticed that Adrienne was still sitting down. "What are you waiting for? We're going to get Lianna back now!"

"No, we're going to get her father." Adrienne said slowly. "And we need a story. How do you think he'll react if he sees you pop up from nowhere, looking for him when nobody's cared whether he's alive or dead for the last twenty years? And you of all people. What are we going to tell him?"

Hermione stopped and her face fell. "Good question."

Adrienne saw her mother's crestfallenness, "I've been thinking about it. We could be reporters, wanting to make a book out of his life. Hopefully his ego's still up to it for it to work. Although, I think that eighteen years seclusion is enough to give anyone's ego a good shaking." Adrienne stopped, recollected her thoughts. "I think we should disguise ourselves, then give him a visit. If we walk carefully, we should be able to get close to him without him noticing, and we can observe his situation. Then we can reassess how to approach him." 

"You have been thinking about this, haven't you?" Hermione smiled at her daughter. "Sounds good, darling. Let's do it. Now- what do you want to look like?"

~*~

Jeremy sat in the library, wishing that Madam Pince were there to help him with his research. "Drat the teachers taking holidays," he said softly, still observing the obscure rule of being silent in the library. It seemed a little silly since he was the only person there. He put the book back on the shelf, reached for the next one along. Brushing dust off its cover, he opened it gently. No telling what could be in these magical books, after all. A fine mist of dust flew up from the pages, got up his nose, made him sneeze. His eyes began to water, and, with a violent snap, he closed the book. Gently, he stood up, placed the book back where it came from, then walked to the Hospital Wing, his eyes still watering profusely. "Damned magical books," he cursed as he walked into a small table in the corridor. He walked past two odd looking women, but couldn't spare the time to ask who they were. Finally, he made it up the stair to the crisp, clean Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey clucked, twittered, and finally sat him down on a bed and sprayed strange substances in his face, muttered small incantations. 

"What were you doing, boy?" She confronted him, once his eyes and sinuses had somewhat been brought under control. He blew his nose. 

"I was researching."

"In the restricted section, I suppose?"

"Well…"

"I don't even have to tell you that- even though you're all grown up now- you need Madam Pince around when you go into that section? It's not to spoil your fun, Jeremy; it's to keep you safe. I just hope you've learned from your mistake. Next time, it could be a lot worse than this," she waved her hand at his face, before shaking her head sadly and handing over a small square of chocolate. "I'm glad it wasn't something a lot worse than this, too, dear. Madam Pince will be back in two day's time. How about you research outside the restricted section until she returns?" Madam Pomfrey smiled softly at him, patting him on the arm as his mother used to. His eyes filled with tears again, but not because of the powder. 

~*~

"How do I look?" Hermione twirled for her daughter, her lightweight reporter's robes twirling around her. Adrienne giggled at the sight of her mother with jet-black hair and smart glasses.

"You look a little like Rita Skeeter," she joked, and Hermione mock-glared at her.

"Take that back! I do not." She pouted, and Adrienne laughed.

"How do I look?"

"Like your sister."

"Ah, well. Some people get all the looks," Adrienne sighed, smoothing her robes down over her clothes. She checked her wand was in its place under her sleeve, and knew that Hermione was doing the same. 

"Alright mama. Let's do this."

Jeremy then bundled past, hardly even looking at them, but his eyes were weeping tears and his nose was running.

"Charming! Sure you don't want to marry Harry Potter's son?"

"Mama! You promised you wouldn't start matchmaking me until I said ok."

"You've said ok several times in the past,"

"But not in context!"

"True, true." Hermione laughed with Adrienne, and they giggled all the way out of the grounds. Then, keeping their destination clear in mind, they Apparated.

~*~

A/N: Three Chapters, one day. Not a bad effort! Kisses to all reviewers! ^_~

*kitten


	24. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

_She walked and walked, never hungering, never thirsting for anything more than the next step. 'Who am I?' she asked herself, again and again, but beyond the revelation that she was not alone, there was nothing. No memory, no hope. She knew she was not alone, and it was that hope that kept her going. Somewhere, somewhere, here or there, she would find this part of her that is not her, and she would find herself again. _

_Striding past the floundering figures of blurred light, she continued on, burning with the desire to find herself. She paused to examine another golden thread, seeing that it pulled on her. She grasped it firmly in her hand, and let it take her where it went. 'Kind of like the Floo network,' she thought, before wondering what the Floo network was. She shook her head, and let go._

_She slid to a stop, gazing around the dark grey landscape, observing the many golden threads that congregated there. With the threads were many blurry forms, auras of shimmering light. She moved over to one, further away from the congregants, further away from the bright threads, careful not to let herself be caught up in the lines. The aura was dark blue, but lit with glimmers of silver. She sat on the ethereal ground, looking at the figure. _

_It opened its eyes. _

_She screamed, but to her ears it sounded as a far off echo, hardly even reaching her ears. The figure's bright silver inner light burst from its eyes, lighting the area that was already lit with her golden light. _

_'Another visitor,' it remarked, somewhat amusedly. It offered her a hand, and, reluctantly, she took it. The figure helped her to her feet. 'You don't know much about this place, do you?' It asked her, and she shook her head, unable to do otherwise. The words it spoke sounded clear in her ears, though she knew that if she were to try to talk, her voice would echo out, much as her scream had._

_'I guess I should teach you how to talk. It's a bit like teaching an infant, but it takes a lot less time, I suppose,' the figure spoke to itself, its silver eyes turned away from her for a moment. 'Ok,' the figure asked her, 'do you want to learn how to talk?'_

_She nodded her head, aware that this primitive sign language would not take her very far. _

_'Ok,' it said, as though readying itself for something not pleasant. 'First, you have to open your mind.' She looked blankly at the figure, then shook her head, not understanding._

_'Try a trance. Empty your mind. Here,' the figure placed its hands on her head, and suddenly, her mind was clear. There wasn't a single thought in her head, except a strange grey light. Her head lost its fuzziness, and a few of her memories flew back. She put them away to look at later. _

_'Ok. Now, don't try to talk to me- think at me. You're doing well.' The figure stood with its hands on her head, and she tried to think at it._

_'Ouch! Think quietly. I can hear you- there's no such thing as distance here, so you don't have to shout.' The figure winced, and removed one hand to rub its temple. _

_'Sorry,' she said, 'I'm new to this.' _

_'I noticed,' the figure replied. 'Who are you, now?'_

_'I'm not entirely sure.' She replied, feeling insecure exposing herself to this stranger, despite all the help it had given her. 'I woke far from here, and rode a thread to somewhere else. I guess I'm on a quest to find out who I am.' She shrugged._

_'Ah. You don't know who you are. Yet, you learn to speak so quickly? It took me five days to learn to speak with the moderation and precision you are already speaking, and you say you have no memory?' The figure peered at her suspiciously, but seemed to find nothing guileful in her, as it then looked away. It turned her around, and gasped._

_'No wonder you don't know who you are,' the figure pronounced, 'your lifeline is a silk-thread!' the exclamation made her heart beat faster, but didn't bring much enlightenment to her. _

_'My lifeline?' She questioned._

_'The line that links you to your physical body. See?' The figure turned around, and, from his lower vertebra, she could see a thin line protruding, leaning down into the ground._

_'Why does it go into the ground like that?' _

_'Because if it didn't, it would float around behind me. Don't ask me questions I can't answer. But I think I know how your lifeline is so thin,' the figure said, conspiratorially. _

_'How?' She took the bait._

_'I think that you have had your soul stolen- but have somehow escaped.' The figure leaned back from her, peering over her head. 'And I think I know who did it.'_

_'Who? How? I mean, who would want to steal my soul? How would they do it? And how would I escape? And how do you know who it was?' She could feel her frustrations building, and when she looked down at her body, she could see flickers of light orange frustration sliding among her normal deep purple and golden light._

_'Don't get too frustrated,' the figure said to her, 'I can only tell you what I know. Ah! Wait here- I have company. I'll come back- just watch me. I'll be back,' And the figure's eyes snapped shut, leaving her floundering in perceived darkness, though her eyes provided enough light for her to see. She sat down again, watching the aura of the other move a little jerkily, then she watched the light show of emotions in its figure. _

_She would just have to wait._

~*~

"What," the voice came, grumpily, from the inside of the house. 

"I was beginning to think we'd got the wrong house!" Hermione chirped, getting into character. Adrienne winced at the tone of voice, but followed her mother-cum-employer into the house without being invited.

"Lovely house, I must admit. Rustic," Hermione nodded to the wooden doorframes and windows, the pine-log walls and rug-covered straw on the ground. "One could spend one's entire life here! I would almost say you were trying to hide from us, Mr. Malfoy!" The man in the middle of the large room certainly looked a little like the Draco Malfoy that Adrienne had seen in the pictures, blond hair and grey eyes, pinched face; but there was something more adult about him now- the anger lines around his eyes may have had something to do with that. Adrienne could see that the ploy was not going to work.

"Draco Malfoy. Please excuse my assistant. She's a bit eccentric, and isn't quite acquainted with the customs of polite people. Adita, here! Now!" Hermione looked frustrated, but took the change in role in her stride. She winced and ran to cower behind Adrienne, responding to the fake name. 

Adrienne seated herself in front of her sister's father, holding her back straight and using her height to her advantage. She kept her face regal and her manner aloof. "We have been contacted by a man who believes that he has found a child you fathered."

At this, finally, Malfoy's face changed, to show fear, anger, suspicion, and, finally, perplexion. "How can this be?" He asked, his eyes seeking something in her face.

"It appears that you went to a dark revel where a woman was raped repeatedly." Adrienne paused until she saw the wince of recognition on his face. "The woman bore two children. One of these is yours."

"Two children?" Again, confusion.

"Yes. The woman had ovulated twice, and, since she was raped repeatedly by several men, there was plenty of chance for more than one man's sperm to fertilise either ova." Adrienne paused again, peering coldly into his face.

"How can this be?" he began again, worry lines furrowing his brow. "Surely someone would have told me before now- after all, it was nearly twenty years ago." He looked down at the floor, his brow still furrowed.

"We were only just confirmed of her paternity. She and her twin sister took an illegal paternity test on Knockturn Alley several days ago. We have not contacted the children of their indiscretion- after all, who would not want to know who their father is?- but we believe that it is your right to know. We are unsure as to if you will be tried for rape, but we do know that you will be required to pay child maintenance. This is a foreign concept to most wizards, but one that is widely accepted in the Muggle realm. Terms and conditions will be sent to you." Adrienne finished her spiel, and watched the play of emotions on the man's face. His hair was loosely bound at the nape of his neck, and his grey eyes were stormy. 

"Ok. I will take responsibility for my child. But surely she is now no longer a minor?" His eyes rose from the floor to bore into Adrienne's fake eyes. For a moment, Adrienne was sure that the man could see through her transfigured features to her real skin underneath. She shifted slightly, to further shield her mother from his watchful glance. 

"No, she is no longer a minor- but this does not remove your responsibility."

"No, of course not." And he peered further into her face. "Tell me," he asked, in a cool, quiet voice that made her shiver, "do you normally wear a disguise to tell fathers about their long lost children?" Adrienne moved a little more, knowing full well the anxiety on her face. She gripped her wand and whispered the words to end the spell. She ground her teeth to keep herself silent as her face moved back into familiar lines.

"Better?" she asked, keeping her stance upright. 

"Yes, but it doesn't answer my question."

"Damned Malfoy curiosity," Adrienne muttered under her breath, "Ok. You want to know why we're really here?" Adrienne glared at the man whose eyes saw right through her disguise. "I'll tell you.

"My mother was the one you raped. Lianna is my sister. We got caught up in a game of souls when we weren't expecting it. Lianna's soul was taken, and now her body sits alone at Hogwarts, waiting for her soul to return. The last words she uttered before she disappeared were 'you'd better find my father', so I have. I don't know why, but she needs you. As I said, your responsibility doesn't end when she ceases to be a minor. And now, though you've never seen her, she needs you. I don't even know why I'm bothering, but I'm certain that Lianna knows what she's doing, even at the brink of death." Adrienne glared at the man with her dark eyes, knowing that her cheeks were flushed and her eyes glittering. 

The man smiled at her in amusement. "I'd be glad to help."

"You would?" Hermione muttered from behind Adrienne's back, and Adrienne winced visibly at her mother's inability to keep her mouth shut. Now he was going to look through her disguise, and make matters a whole lot more complicated.

"Sure I would. I've been sitting here in a dank cabin in the middle of the French woodland for the last eighteen years, learning about soul magic. I was getting a bit lonesome, truth be told. But before we go, I've got a lost soul in the ether-realm that needs a little guidance. I'll just teach it how to attach itself to me, and I'll take it with me." And before either woman could say anything, he closed his eyes and slid into a deep trance.

"What did he mean, a lost soul?" Adrienne asked.

"What did he mean, bring it with him?" Hermione asked. 

They looked at each other, then shrugged. After a moment that seemed like forever, he opened his eyes again, stood up with ease that defied his age, and began to grab things from the sparse shelving in the cabin. Adrienne stood up and helped her mother to her feet.

"Alright," Draco said when they were all standing outside the cabin, "Where to now?"

"Hogwarts," both women said confidently, and Draco nodded. 

All that could be heard in that moment were three loud pops as the air rushed into the space where three people had once stood.

~*~

A/N: ooh- intrigue! Chapter 24's not far off…

Love and kisses!

*kitten


	25. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

_'How do you mean, attach myself?' she asked, shaking her head at the spirit._

_'Like this,' it said, showing her in mind-pictures how to perform the task._

_'Ok- but I don't know if it will work on my first try.'_

_'It will, if your quick learning for soul-magic will extend to more than talking. I had better be getting back before my guests take themselves off without me. It's been a long time since I had guests.'_

_She considered asking the spirit what it meant, but as soon as she had lashed her spirit-rope around it, the aura closed its eyes and began to move. _

_She pulled her legs and arms in to hold onto the rope tightly, grappling to stay with the soul. The movement scratched at her arms, her legs, but she held on by some effort of will that she didn't know she had. Finally, the movement let up, and she could see many more spirits wandering around her with their eyes closed._

_The spirit she was still bound to opened its eyes again, 'ok, you can let me go now. We're here.'_

_'Where's here?' she asked, curious yet afraid._

_'Hogwarts, physically. I'm not entirely sure if it is Hogwarts in this realm, but we will have to take that chance.'_

_'Hogwarts?' she repeated, the name jarring a memory in her that she was unable to retrieve._

_'Yes. Now, I've got to do some work. Have a look at the scenery,' the spirit winked at her, and closed its eyes again, leaving her to watch the auras again. There were more now, and she could see the different colours swirling in them. She wondered if the colours of the auras determined what sort of physical being they were, or if their aura merely reflected their physical being. She sat down to ponder this, gazing unseeingly at the figures moving around her._

~*~

"Hmm," Draco peered at the empty shell, then laughed. "The woman who did this is not much threat any longer!"

Adrienne felt like throwing things at the man. He just didn't explain anything! "What do you mean, not much threat any longer?"

"Oh, she came to visit me the other day. She left with more than she bargained for."

"That doesn't help me," Adrienne ground out, her teeth clenched. _Hot cheeks again, Adrienne. You're letting him get to you._

"Ok, ok," Draco let up on his teasing, sat himself down on the bed beside his daughter, and Adrienne had to concentrate hard on what he was saying- the likeness between father and daughter hadn't been apparent to her until he sat beside his daughter. "A figure came yesterday- a female, they're just so obvious about their gender, females- and tried to remove my soul. I think I frightened her when I opened my eyes and told her to get lost. Nasty looking soul, she was. All red and black and green. Not very balanced, and not ready to be walking the paths of the soul. I sent her home- quite jarringly, she'll have some nice bruises from that- with a little present. She'll be ok, if she doesn't break the seal. Of course, she'll recognise what it is, and the first reaction is to throw the thing- and if she's in a pentagram, which most soul-travellers are, just because it's safer, she'll break the glass and my little present will eat her." He paused to take a breath. "Of course, that's the reason I gave her the present." He winked slyly. 

"What sort of present was it?" Adrienne asked wearily, glad her mother wasn't in the room. Hermione just had no patience with tiresome people. 

"Oh, just, you know, a spirit…" Draco looked down at his fingernails and began to prise the dirt out from underneath them.

"What sort of spirit? Getting information out of you is like trying to bleed a rock!" Adrienne exclaimed, then intentionally pushed her anger out of her. She made herself cold and hard and impervious, not wanting to be tricked by this man. 

"Oh, that's the intention, dear. But it was a nasty spirit. That's about all you need to know." Draco dropped his act for a moment and stared his piercing grey eyes into Adrienne's own. Adrienne (_I am a woman of stone, I am a woman of stone_) kept her gaze level and rode out his stare. Eventually he laughed and turned his face back to examine his daughter.

"What was her name again?" He asked softly, trailing a finger down her face.

"Lianna," Adrienne replied coldly.

"Do you know the meaning of the name?" Draco asked, keeping his eyes on the blonde girl.

"Daughter of the sun, I believe. Old English."

"How fitting! And your own?"

"Adrienne. It means 'dark one'."

"Ah, the woman who named you must have known a lot of names," Draco finally pulled his eyes away from his daughter to wink at Adrienne. Adrienne resisted the urge to shudder.

"Yes. Virginia Weasley named us- with a naming charm. It appears that she puts a lot of herself into her work, as successful people do."

"Yes," Draco replied, and returned his gaze to his daughter. Adrienne longed to get out of the room, but could find to way to leave politely. _What does politeness mean to this man? He's lived on his own for the past eighteen years! Just leave!_ Yet, Adrienne could not. Draco started to speak again.

"You know, I never thought I'd have kids. They always seemed like a waste of time. And now that she's pressed on me, I find that I want to know her. Want to see if she's like me, despite never knowing me. I feel I need to know her. But then, I suppose your father feels the same?" Draco turned to look at Adrienne. She just shrugged.

"I don't know," Was all she could say.

"Really? You haven't told him? Or you just don't know?" He asked, peering again. It really was disconcerting.

"I've told him, yes. But he was someone I had known for a while, unknowingly. Knowing that he was my father didn't really change the way I thought of him." Draco continued to peer, until Adrienne could feel blood running up her cheeks again.

"Who is your father?" Draco asked bluntly, and Adrienne could feel her anger returning.

"It's none of your business who my father is! _I_ am none of your business!" Before Adrienne could get properly into her rant, Draco chuckled, cutting her off. 

"Someone you know, and someone I know, then." He smiled knowingly, leaving Adrienne fuming, but with no outlet. She could almost feel steam pouring from her ears.

"Let me think," Draco mused, running his eyes up and down her body. "Someone dark, obviously, as your mother isn't quite that colouring. Dark eyes, longer face- I must say your face is more attractive than your mothers, if only because it's not so round- let's see. And someone I know as you do. Let me see…" Draco leaned to peer out the window down onto the courtyard. Adrienne looked out the window as well, and, to her surprise, Snape was walking through the yard. Draco leaned back and raised an eyebrow. 

"Yes. Snape is my father. Thankyou. Your powers of deduction astound me. Now, I will go. Thankyou for returning. The house elves will escort you to your room when you are finished here." Adrienne gave up on being polite in her anger, and stalked from the room, slamming the door behind her so she wouldn't have to listen to Draco's quiet laugh.

Draco opened the door and leaned his head out, "You've still a long way to go before you're anywhere near as intimidating as he is, dear." And with a sickly sweet smile, he winked at her and shut the door again.

"Why must he call me _dear_?" Adrienne muttered as she began to run down the hallways. Her feet pounded on the greystone floors, and the portraits smiled at her as she went past. 

Down the corridors, down the stairs, leaping over balustrades and out windows, Adrienne reached her home garden in a shorter amount of time than many would have thought possible. Rushing into her room, she locked her door with a simple charm and began to let out her anger and frustration.

Anyone passing by would have thought a rampaging animal was caged in her room. Maybe there was.

~*~

A/N: Ah, wily Draco. How we love him.

*kitten


	26. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Kate sat down at her desk, reading over the material with her lips pursed. "Interesting," she murmured, eyes moving quickly. She walked over to the fireplace, threw in a pinch of Floo powder, and found Hermione.

"Hermione! I just heard about your daughter- how's everything going?" Kate decided it was uncomfortable leaning through the Floo network, but neither her own, nor the Hogwarts fireplaces actually allowed people to travel through them. Security reasons, they said. 

Hermione shrugged, "As well as is supposed. Adrienne and I brought Malfoy here."

"So the potion worked?" Kate interrupted.

"Yes. Adrienne worked on it with Snape, so I have no idea what they did. It worked, however. And- you'll be surprised about this- Malfoy's been practicing soul magic."

"Really?" Kate gasped, her hand gripping tightly on the parchment before her.

"Really. I'm thankful, though- he'll be able to find Lianna. She'll be home soon enough. He knows what he's doing." Hermione sighed. "I just wish there were something _I_ could do. I feel unnecessary."

"You need a husband, dear." Kate muttered, a bit too loud, and her face went red when Hermione looked at her oddly. "Sorry, Hermione. That was uncalled for. But I do think you need someone to love. Your girls are growing up, and you need someone to look after- and to look after you."

Hermione looked at the floor, silence permeating the room. Kate fidgeted. Finally, Hermione looked up at her. "Thankyou, Kate. That will be all," Her eyes were cold, and Kate left quickly, green flames going up her nose as she did so. She snorted them out, and the fire died immediately, leaving a dark fireplace. 

"Drat. The poor dear. And now I've gone and made things worse- ah, what can you do?" Kate sat down with the parchment again, reading over the words. 

~*~

_How _could_ she? Even to suggest that I need to rely on a man is insult enough,_ Hermione fumed. _But to suggest that I need one to look after me is worse_. Hermione stormed out of the staff room, down the stairs, down the drafty corridors, up the stairs, out a door, in a door, up stairs and into the Hospital Wing.

Poppy took one look at the fuming woman and stopped her. 

"What's wrong, Hermione? You look as though you're about to destroy something. Adrienne looks surprisingly like you when she looks like that," she chuckled.

"What's wrong with Adrienne?"

"Oh, Malfoy was riling her. She let him get to her. She stormed out with the same expression as you are now wearing. I think she was going to take out her anger on inanimate objects. I take it you are going to take your anger out on a person?" Poppy's eyes crinkled into a smile, and Hermione felt a little of her anger ebb.

"You're probably right. I was actually just going to sit down and watch Lianna. It seems to calm me somehow. Like when I used to watch the girls sleeping." Poppy nodded; then let her into the room.

"Malfoy, out." Hermione commanded when she stepped into the room. Draco looked at her, saw the expression on her face, and sauntered out, leaning in as though to say something to her on the way through. He kept silent though, and closed the door softly behind him. Hermione shook her head and sat to watch her daughter.

"Ah, Lianna. I love you so much. I hope you realise just how much." Hermione rested her head in her hands. She jumped back up, however, when a hand reached out to touch her.

"Mama?" the question came, and Hermione looked straight into the dazzlingly blue eyes of her daughter, no longer empty.

"Oh, Lianna!" Hermione jumped onto the bed, feeling the sheets warm from another person. She threw her arms around her daughter, holding her as she began to weep.

~*~

_'Are you here?' The figure opened its eyes, filling the world with silver again. _

_'Yes. Just pondering conundrums. How are your guests?' she asked, watching the lights in the other spirit's aura flicker back to their normal balance._

_'It seems that I'm the guest now. Would you like to go home?' The spirit asked her intently, leaning forward to peer at her._

_'Yes. I think I would,' she replied, 'I'm sick of not even knowing my own name. I want to know what I look like again.'_

_'You look like that,' he nodded towards her. 'Your spirit does, anyway.'_

_'Yes, I understand that, but I want to know what I physically look like again. And I want to know what part of me is missing,' she said softly, not quite sure if she should reveal this vulnerability of herself to this stranger._

_'Ah. Yes, you will find that part of yourself when you return. Here-' the spirit showed her a dark form that she had previously overlooked. There was a tiny thread emanating from it, but it was quite lengthily stretched into the ground._

_'Is this my body?' she asked._

_'I think so. Look-' She looked, and saw that the lifeline was dark purple with golden ripples, just like her own._

_'How do I go home?' she asked, perplexed._

_'Just move into it- can't you feel the pulling?' as soon as the spirit said this, she could feel it- an aching pull somewhere in her midsection, dragging her down into the body. Her head began to swim. The other spirit snapped its eyes shut. She could feel herself falling…_

~*~

A/N: We found Lianna! Thankyou to my reviewers, and enjoy the rest of your reading!

*kitten


	27. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

"What? She's awake? Where!" Adrienne nearly ran from the room before the location was divulged by the sulky Malfoy, sullen at no longer being the centre of attention.

"Where she was; where else?" Then he was left to himself, sitting in the Great Hall, so empty when it was devoid of children. _I never realised just how much it echoes in here. Maybe it is because I was always surrounded by a sound board,_ he smirked, sadly, at the memory of Crabbe and Goyle; faithful to his previous image. _Too bad father died. Too bad Hermione killed him. Too bad he was too proud to change, was too set in his ways. Too reliant on the parties, too reliant on the company of old. Too reluctant to become a 'good' wizard. Disdained of it all. Too bad, Draco could feel the twinge of regret that he had thought long forgotten, but brushed it aside. His father had made his own choices, much as he, himself, had. Chosen that one night to defy his father, and end up fathering a child of his own. Draco's petulant put became a gentle smile at the memory of his child's face, her brilliant aura. Had his father ever felt this way about his own child? Had there been enough love in his heart to feel anything for his child? Maybe, but maybe not, Draco shrugged; remembering the defiant look of disgust in his father's face when he had told him that he would become an Auror, that he would turn his father in if given the chance. The cold shine of his steel-grey eyes glaring at him as though he had become a mouse, not a man at all. _'You'll never be my child, then,'_ he had said, though Draco never knew if he said it out of spite; he never had a chance to recant. _

Draco was disturbed from his introspection by a tall, dark haired man. Jeremy Potter slumped into his seat, apparently exhausted; his eyes reddened from extended reading by insufficient candlelight. 

"Reading?" Draco asked pleasantly. Jeremy started, looked at the man, then returned to staring abjectly at the table. 

"Yes. Researching. But Madam Pince is the only one who has access to the lanterns- I've been forced to study by candlelight. It's frustrating, and not just mentally. My eyes ache." As though to prove this, he rubbed his eyes roughly. 

"Rough."

"Indeed. So tell me- what have you been doing for the past eighteen years?" Jeremy asked, his tone light.

"Oh, you know," Draco returned, in the same tone, "A bit of this and a bit of that. Learning soul-magic, mainly. It seemed like the thing to do."

"Oh," Jeremy replied, at a loss as to what to say to that. "Well, what does soul-magic require?"

"A lot of patience," Draco replied with a grimace. "It took me four months to master how to talk."

"Really?"

"Yes. There's not really any air in the soul-realm; so sound doesn't travel very well. It's all telepathic talking there. Although, I didn't really have anyone to teach me. I just learned as I went along," he mused.

"Oh. Was that hard?" Jeremy asked, not sure if he cared.

"Not really. Just time consuming. And I only had myself to practice with, really. And it was a lot quieter in the soul realm. No noisy reporters, no nosy neighbours; I built myself a hut in the woods where I could spend days in my trance without being disturbed. I did that once," he said, "Just stayed in a trance to see how long I could do it. I wandered around for a while, then came back to realise that I'd been gone four days and _really needed to go to the toilet. I did have a little trouble, though, because the ground kept swimming before me- I was dehydrated. And extremely hungry. I decided that I could die out there in the soul realm, and never know it until I came to go back to my body- and realised that it wasn't waiting up for me." Draco grinned a little at his joke, but Jeremy only shook his head at Draco's humour, smiling._

"Ah, you have changed a lot from all the tales told about the Ferret of Slytherin," Jeremy grinned at Draco, who looked indignant.

"Ferret of Slytherin? What misconstrued stories have you been told, boy?" He spluttered.

"Oh, my father had this little story about you being turned into a ferret by a man who was pretending to be Mad Eye Moody, but wasn't really."

"Since when does that earn me the title Ferret of Slytherin? And who's your father?"

"Oh, Harry Potter. You know, dark hair, round glasses, green eyes, a bit scrawny? He said that you weren't technically the Heir of Slytherin, although you acted that way sometimes; the only title you could actually claim was Ferret of Slytherin. Since then, you've always been the Ferret of Slytherin. The things you miss when you're closeted away in a hut in the middle of the woods for eighteen years," Jeremy found that he was enjoying this. At the mention of his father, Draco had begun to flush angrily, the his face paled, maybe in memory of the Last Battle, before he returned to glaring, annoyed, at the man before him.

"Oh, yes. I can see it now. But your eyes are blue? How did that happen?"

"Well, my mother has blue eyes, you see. I would have thought someone would have told you this, but- when a mummy and a daddy love each other very much, they get…"

Draco turned a little pink around the ears, "Ok! I don't need to think about my parents having sex, thankyou very much."

"Does that make you uncomfortable, Draco?"

"Yes, it does. Now, if you don't mind, the Ferret of Slytherin would like to retire from this tennis match with some small shred of dignity intact."

"Aw, but I was having fun. Just because you were losing…" Jeremy mock-pouted, but laughed at Draco's expression. "You're not half as bad as Dad and Uncle Ron tried to make you out."

"Thankyou," Draco replied, his face twisting as if the words tasted bad. "I'm glad you've come to that conclusion."

Jeremy laughed again, then lunch appeared on their plates.

"Where's everyone else?" Jeremy asked around a large piece of Shepherd's Pie.

"Oh," Draco replied from his steak-filled mouth, "Lianna woke up. They're all cooing over her as though she were just born."

Jeremy began to choke on his potato at this news. "She woke up? Why didn't anyone tell me?" He began to stand, but Draco pulled him back down.

"Because this school doesn't have an Intercom system," he answered wryly. "Sit down; the poor girl's probably swamped with all the attention and people she needs right now."

Jeremy took the point, and began to fill his mouth again. Silence reigned. Jeremy looked up oddly at Draco. "Since when do you know about Intercom Systems?" Draco just laughed.

"Another story for another day, my boy. Another story."

~*~

"You mean that was my father?" Lianna said, maybe a little too loudly.

"Yes. Maybe you have prophetic blood in your veins somewhere- though Merlin knows from where," Hermione replied. "The last words you said before you left apparently were 'find my father'."

"'I think you'd better find my father' actually." Lianna replied. "The memories are all back now. They are obviously kept in my subconscious, not in my active mind that goes searching. I don't know what difference that makes." She turned to look at Adrienne. The girl sat on the chair beside the bed, while Hermione perched on the side of the standard issue single bed. Adrienne's dark eyes were emotion-filled, and Lianna knew that her heart was bursting; yet she also knew that her sister wouldn't say anything until Hermione left. She had come running in a few minutes ago, panting from her exertions, flushed in her cheeks. Then she had seen Hermione perched on the bed, and had made her way, calmly and sedately, to the chair beside the bed. 

Now she just watched, listening. Lianna wondered what was going on in her mind.

As if responding to some subconscious request, Lianna began to see swirls of colour surrounding her sister. She was worried that she was astrally travelling for a moment, but realised that she could still talk to her mother without having to reach out to her with her mind. 

Around Adrienne was a swirling aura of midnight blue- a few shades darker than the spirit who had found her- her father- and shot with the same gold as her own. Permeating her base colours were roils of colour that Lianna had come to recognise as emotion. She was frustrated, Lianna saw, and troubled. Reddy orange and watery green. Lianna smiled at her sister, hoping to reassure her somewhat. Suddenly the colours retreated back to normal, and Lianna was left again to guess at what her sister was feeling.

"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed, "It's lunch time. I'm hungry- do you girls want anything? I'll go down to the kitchens and get us something."

"Sure, mama. You go and get whatever they're serving. Whatever they cook is fabulous." Lianna smiled vibrantly at her mother, and Hermione left the room.

Lianna turned to look at her sister, expectantly.

"I thought you'd never come back and that I'd be stuck by myself forever." Lianna was amazed at her sister's newfound ability to state the way she was feeling. "I also thought that mama would never leave, so that we could talk."

"I saw," Lianna replied smugly.

"What do you mean, you saw?" Adrienne peered into her sister's face, somehow now unable to ignore the likeness between her sister and her father.

"I saw your aura just before. I don't know how I did it, but I could see what you were feeling, and I wasn't in a trance or anything."

"Do you think you could do it again?" Adrienne asked, suddenly curious.

_I wonder what colour curiosity is? Lianna thought, and, abruptly, her vision switched to aura-mode. "Oh," she said aloud, "So curiosity is purple. I didn't know that."_

Adrienne looked at her sister until she explained herself. Lianna consciously turned off her aura-vision, creating a switch in her mind to allow herself to do so at will.

"There we go- thanks, Ri. Now I can do that whenever I want," Lianna leaned over to hug her sister, and Adrienne returned the hug fiercely, tears stinging her eyes.

"What do you think of my father, Ri?" Lianna asked when they had separated again.

"What do you think of _my_ father, Li? I think that your father has had far too much time on his hands for eighteen years, and is now putting into practice all the methods he has imagined to ruffle people."

Lianna looked at her sister for a moment, before asking, "Did you break all your furniture again?" Adrienne looked down at her hands, feeling her the colour rise in her cheeks again. _I must learn to control that,_ she berated herself silently.

"I fixed it all," she said sullenly, and Lianna burst out into peals of rippling laughter.

"Ah, Ri, where would I be without you?"

"Probably still lost in the spirit world," Adrienne replied, but she smiled at her sister, picking her face up from observing her hands in her lap. 

"Indeed. And what sort of existence is that!" Lianna exclaimed, gripping her sister's hands. 

"No existence at all," she replied in the formula that they had created years ago, falling back into the rhythm of living with her sister again.

_I will have to learn to live without her, though, Adrienne thought to herself,_ if I am ever to marry, or allow her to marry and move on. We can't live through each other all our lives._ This thought didn't ruffle Adrienne's delight at finding her sister, merely made her aware of the need to facilitate her continual growth in her character. She smiled broadly at her sister._

"You have no idea how difficult it is for me to see a Snape smiling, do you?" At the door, a blond-haired man stood leaning on the doorframe. Adrienne's smile quickly morphed into a snarl.

"Ah, that's more like it. You'd make your daddy proud," he said, walking over to pat her on the cheek. Lianna laughed, and Adrienne forced herself to see the funny side of it. She sighed, then let herself be amused by this man. If her sister trusted him, the least she could do was trust him as well. He was her father, after all.

"I'm sure. I like to think he'd be more impressed by my Potion making ability, though," Adrienne replied, a slight challenge in her voice.

"Oh, I'm sure he would. Not that he'd ever say so," Draco replied, grinning.

"No, that he never would," Adrienne smiled. Lianna grinned as well, and Hermione returned, basket of food under her arm.

"Oh! We have more guests than I'd planned upon?"

"No, fair lady," Draco said gallantly, making Adrienne grimace and Lianna giggle, "I have already eaten. Fear not for your ferocious hunger! It shall be annulled." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Ok, Draco. Drop the act. Sure you don't want anything to eat?"

"Sure. The house elves stuffed me full of steak and vegetables. If I eat even a bite more…" Draco trailed off as he saw the collection of sweets in the basket.

"What were you saying, Draco?" Hermione asked sweetly, her hand protectively over the sweets left in the basket.

"Nothing, Hermione." He tore his eyes away from the sweets. "Where did Jeremy go?"

"Oh, I passed him in the corridors. He said that he'd come by to visit later. He went off in the direction of the library."

"That boy's going to need spectacles by the time he's finished," Draco said wearily.

"Oh?"

"Researching by candlelight."

"Oh. Yes. Even I refrained from doing that if at all possible."

"Yes, but you're smarter than he is."

"Are you sure?"

"Oh, of course, fair lady!" Draco reverted to his chivalrous mask. "Never would such a fine lady as yourself wish to compromise her beauty for a few moments of literary pleasure," he winked.

"Mama, don't even dignify that with an answer," Adrienne said from her chair, a mock grimace on her face. 

"Wouldn't dream of it, darling."

"Good."

~*~

A/N: But what is happening with Asa'Morana? Stay tuned…

*kitten


	28. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

"I remember now," came the voice from the doorway. Kate spun around, her blue eyes wide.

"I remember," Minerva continued, "When you were at school. I remember your interesting views on subjects such as bloodlines. I remember your approach to your work. I remember you." Her eyes were cold pieces of granite, immoveable. 

"I've changed," Kate replied, waving her hand at the woman as though she were overdramatising the situation. She sat wearily in her seat, looking at the paperwork before her.

"I'm sure," Minerva pronounced, then walked from the door. 

Kate sighed. _Just what I need. I'm in the bad books with Hermione, and now that dratted woman goes and remembers me as I used to be. I guess I'll just have to deal with it,_ she muttered to herself. _Damn it all._

~*~

"The other teachers arrive back today," Varimont announced at breakfast the following morning. Minerva was sullenly sitting at the middle of the table, the traditional place for the Headmistress. Jeremy was rubbing his eyes, Draco chattering to Snape, who sincerely looked as if he wished to fade into the woodwork. Hermione sat between Adrienne and Lianna. "It should be interesting to fill them in on all the happenings, shouldn't it, Adrienne?" She gave the girl a sly look under her lashes. Adrienne started again, realising- not for the first time- that there was much more to Varimont than she was ever given credit for. Much like Dumbledore.

"Very," she replied hesitantly, filling her face with French toast, hoping it would keep the questions at bay.

"Are you going to tell them?"

"I don't know."

"Will Lianna tell them?" Varimont asked, loud enough for Lianna to hear, then turned to see what her response would be.

"Yes, I will. What have I to hide?" Lianna said brightly, chirping into her marmalade toast. Varimont just smiled, and turned her eyes back to Adrienne, shining. 

"What has she to hide?" _Varimont's playing with me,_ Adrienne thought to herself. _But at least she's not malicious._

"Soul-magic. Both their abilities."

"What have you to hide?" Adrienne didn't know quite what to say to that.

"My own discomfort, I suppose."

"Yes," Varimont nodded, then returned to her breakfast. _Inscrutable, Adrienne snorted._

~*~

"Hang on a moment, dear. You've been very badly hurt." The voice slithered into her mind, taking moments to reach comprehension in her pain-filled mind. Then she realised that she was trying to sit up, and stopped. The pain withdrew slightly, though it still felt like it was eating through every muscle in her body.

"Uuh…" She realised that she couldn't talk, despite the words that longed to flow from her mouth. Her face burned.

"I don't know what did this to you, dear. It might have been a really nasty acid, but anything from fire to high pressured water could have had similar results," the woman continued, a voice in the silent cacophony in her head. 

_Non-Magical, she thought to herself amidst the torturous pain that bore into her every nerve. __I'm in Hospital. _

Then there was nothing but darkness again, and a helpless floating that carried her on the breath of other-worldly wind that always blew around her.

~*~

A/N: A short chapter, I know. But things are happening!!

Love and kisses,

*kitten


	29. Chapter 28

A/N: Thanks AnnabelleElizabeth! And yes- that was our fated badguy(girl?)

Chapter 28

"We still need to find this woman, Hermione. She may not have your daughter's soul anymore, but she still has dozens of other people's souls. She's a danger to the Wizarding world still, and we need to know where she is!" Kate exclaimed, then she paused to stare behind Hermione. Hermione herself turned around to see what it was.

Draco stood in the doorway, leaning impudently against the doorframe. "I gave her a little present. She shouldn't be any trouble for quite a while."

"What did you do to her?" Kate's voice wavered only slightly, but Hermione could hear it. _What was it that made her fear this man_, she wondered silently.

"I sent a pain-spirit to her. She won't be able to do anything for a good couple of weeks without feeling intense pain."

"Aren't they illegal?" Kate demanded, though Hermione could see a slight tinge of colour rising in her cheeks.

"Oh, not in France. And she deserved it," he added.

"Why was that?" Kate's eyes seemed to be straining to leave her face, and the colour in her cheeks was still more pronounced.

"She was extremely unbalanced. She had no right to be walking the spirit pathways. As is obviously shown by her stealing of souls- nobody in their right mind would do so. Nobody who had an ounce of compassion, anyway. She deserves everything that she gets." Draco finished his little speech with a flourish. Hermione nodded agreement with him.

"Kate, I think that it's likely that she's being cared for in a Muggle institution. If you don't mind, I'm going to do a little snooping." Kate wrinkled her nose at the choice of words, but nodded her head.

"Ok, Hermione. But it's on your back, not on the back of the Aurors. I don't feel like having to go up to the top to get permission for this." Kate rubbed her eyes. 

"Ok, Kate. Goodbye now," she muttered as she waved a hand at the fireplace. Kate was thrown back through her end of the fire and landed unceremoniously on her rear, soot covering her face.

_Not a good person to get on the wrong side of, apparently. Kate thought to herself. _You knew that already,_ a niggling voice told her in a smug tone. __Oh, yes, she replied, _but now I know for sure._ For a moment she wondered if hearing and responding to voices in her head was a good thing. Then more important things looked over her._

"Kate? It's time."

~*~

Hermione turned again to look at Draco, who was still in the doorway of the room.

"I take it she's not on the best of terms with you, fair lady," he said, his knight's role sliding seamlessly into place.

"No," Hermione replied curtly. "She had the nerve to tell me that I needed a husband." Hermione spat the words, and Draco raised his eyebrows in amusement, twitching the sides of his mouth as though to keep a smile from appearing.

"How could she, Hermione? That's such an awful thing to suggest." Hermione could hear the mocking in his voice, but decided not to reward it with a reply. She pushed past him, heading for her rooms. Draco just stood and watched her go.

_Too bad she's got such a mysandric nature. She could be a pretty little wife, Draco thought to himself, before he snorted at the picture of Hermione in a maid's outfit. "Yeah, right," he said aloud to the empty corridor. He closed the door and walked down the corridor, not really caring about his destination._

~*~

"Just a little longer, mama…" Lianna's voice issued from her locked room, and though Hermione was patient- years of being a teacher had allowed her some small graces- having been kept waiting for fifteen minutes was testing her limits.

"Lianna Meridian Granger! I asked you to come from your room fifteen minutes ago! Now I'm getting angry!" Hermione bellowed, and Adrienne- who was sitting at the kitchen table- grinned.

"You go, mama. You show her who's boss."

"Oh, be quiet, Adrienne," Hermione muttered, which only made her grin wider. An annoyed Lianna appeared at the door of her room, glowering at Hermione.

"What?" she asked curtly, her eyes blazing brightly.

"It's time for dinner, and the other teachers will be back tonight. It would be nice if you were there to greet them, would it not?" Hermione looked oddly at her daughter.

"Oh, yes. I suppose it would," she sighed and deflated, her blonde hair falling down over the front of her shoulders. "I was spirit-walking. Just getting the hang of it." 

"Well, darling, the spirit world is good- but not to the exclusion of the physical. We just got you back, darling. We don't want to lose you again- at least, not before we get the chance to revel in your presence for a while." Hermione smiled mischievously. Lianna smiled wearily, nodded, then followed her mother from the room. 

Adrienne stood and followed her sister and mother, worried slightly about her sister. She noticed that she was worrying her bottom lip, and sternly told herself to stop it. She decided to talk to Draco about training for her sister- on a schedule.

It was interesting to enter the Great Hall and see more than six people. There was not a great volume of noise, but what noise there was echoed around the hall, muttering in the ears of the girls as they entered.

"Oh!" Lianna exclaimed, over her disappointment for now, it seemed, "Flitwick is back!"

"Of course," Adrienne muttered, but kept her voice down so that her sister wouldn't hear. Lianna's smile was firmly set in place, much as Adrienne could feel the scowl fixing itself onto her face. She made a conscious effort to smile at the teachers, although her face didn't feel like it very much. _I will enjoy this. I will smile, and laugh, and talk to Draco when the night's over. I'll talk to Lianna tonight. Right now, I'll talk to everyone else. And, with her mind made up, Adrienne plonked herself into a seat next to Aunt Minerva, smiling broadly at Hooch, who was sitting on the other side of her. _

"Found any good time to go flying this holidays, Adrienne?" Hooch asked, leaning forward so that her cat's eyes could peer closer into her own.

"Haven't really had much time, Madam. Been too busy adventuring," she said with a conspirator's wink. 

"Oh! Do tell," she pleaded, her attention now undivided.

"Well," Adrienne silently and quickly decided exactly what she would be safe to reveal, "I discovered who my father was," a gasp from Hooch, "Mama got lost, but someone found her; Lianna got lost, but we found her, and picked up Draco in the process. All in all, I haven't really had much time for flying." She shrugged apologetically.

"Who is your father?" Hooch asked softly, as though for the others on the table not to hear. Adrienne knew better. She could feel all eyes on the table aimed at her.

"I can't tell you here," she whispered, "Or I'd have everyone else jealous about not knowing, and I might as well tell them all." Hooch looked up at all the other people on the table; now quiet, waiting for the outcome of the talk. Adrienne noticed that Snape's black eyes seemed particularly intent. _Not surprising, dear, she told herself. _He's got stakes in this, as well._ Adrienne smiled broadly at the table, then turned to talk to Minerva, normal conversation levels restoring themselves._

"So, Aunt Minerva, what have you been doing these last few days?" Minerva smiled wearily.

"Reading over the old Yearbooks," she replied. "I found where your mother's friend Kate seemed so familiar from."

"Really?" Adrienne asked, intrigued.

"Yes. She had different hair, though. She was a Pureblood loving, magic loving spoilt child. She disappeared for a year or two, and came back with blonde hair and an apparently changed demeanour. I never was convinced." Minerva confided. Adrienne kicked her feet under the table.

And then dessert arrived, cutting off all opportunities for talk, as the girls all dived into the chocolate cheesecake that presented itself.

~*~

Kate scuffled her feet, gazing deeply at the ground, waiting for it to give up all its secrets.

"Are you going to reply, Kate, or are you going to stand there?"

She had stood, but that was as far as she had reached.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know if I can repay you now," she muttered, hoping that they would not hear the dismay in her voice.

"Don't know if you can repay us?" the man screamed, grabbing the front of her robes and almost lifting her from the ground. "We gave you _everything and you don't know if you can repay us?" _

Kate whimpered, her eyes roving wildly from the dirty face of her attacker to the darkness of her room. _Safety seems so useless when people like this can just walk in,_ she thought to herself, amidst all the turmoil of her thoughts.

"We want our returns now," he continued in a more reasonable voice, although he didn't let her go, "and we may just have to take them from you."


	30. Chapter 29

A/N: Thanks to my reviewers; declarations of adoration are always appreciated ^_~

Chapter 29

Jeremy sat at the table with the book from the restricted section (_Finally, he muttered,__ much longer and I wouldn't have any ground to work from) and the lights working properly._

"You can call me back if you want a different book, Jeremy." Madam Pince nodded at him, then returned to her own desk. Jeremy hardly noticed.

Anyone looking at him would have been astonished and disgusted. He was reading an interestingly titled book, 'Rites of Passage', which was bound in what appeared to be leather. At closer inspection, however one would have noted that it was leather made from human skin. The pages inside were vellum, and of the highest quality. The writing writhed on the pages, and was an interesting rust colour. A potions expert would have detailed it as enchanted blood. A powerful book, from ages past, when the Dark Arts were still accepted as small, provincial rites. It had been a long time ago, yet the leather didn't crack, the writing didn't fade. It had been tenderly looked after. 

Inside, the contents were less than pleasant. There were details of many rites, mostly pertaining to passage between realms. Hence the title. But there was one item in the book that kept Jeremy fascinated.

_'One can restore a soul to a body,' it read,_ 'if one has the means to do so.'_ And from there it went on to tell how to do so. _

Jeremy thought that all his Christmases had come at once. Of course, he had little practice in the area of soul magic, and thus forgot to look at the exact wording of the passages. The rite he was hoping to perform, far from returning his parents' souls to their bodies, would instead restore a lost soul to its body. 

Yet, Jeremy read on, drinking in the information that he believed would bring his parents back from the brink; unknowingly researching something that would drive them further away.

~*~

Hermione Granger waddled into the hospital, fitting her disguise around herself. 

"Hello, madam. Is there some way I can help you?" the polite voice came from the desk. The pretty girl who sat there smiled up comfortingly. Hermione braced herself.

"Yes, I'm here to see my sister. She was brought here from her home, I believe. She would have been taken into emergency. She never carries any id, I'm afraid." Hermione shrugged apologetically. The girl was typing things into the computer. _The wonders of the Muggle world that I'll never be able to fully recapture,_ Hermione mourned silently, wishing that there were some way to make technology work in conjunction with magic.

"Here we are- your sister is in East wing, third floor, room twenty eight." She smiled.

"Thankyou; East wing, third floor, room twenty eight," Hermione repeated back to the lady. She nodded, and replied that she was happy to help. Hermione made her way to the elevator.

~*~

"Draco!" Adrienne caught up with the man after jogging the remaining metres to him.

"Yes?" he replied, amused.

"I want to talk to you about Lianna." Draco's face became a little softer, then more solemn.

"What about her?" he asked, narrowing his eyes and running his hand through his hair.

"I want you to keep teaching her about soul-magic. She was floating around by herself yesterday afternoon, and I'm not sure if she's got the skills to keep herself safe. I don't want you to just open the door then let her go through." Adrienne stopped herself, although her mind continued to list off things that she wanted to say about her fears for her sister. She quieted her thoughts, allowing the words Draco were speaking through.

"She was?" he appeared startled, his eyes going wide. "It's good that you brought this to my attention, Adrienne. I will go and speak to her at once."

Adrienne's shoulders slumped from the weight removed from them. "Good." Draco turned and hurried off, his irritatingly blond hair glistening in the sunlight whenever it had the chance. 

"What now?" she asked herself. A startling revelation came to her. She didn't know.

~*~

Snape nearly ruined the potion he was working on due to the knock on his door. _Who would come and irritate me at this point in time? Haven't I intimidated enough people for them to know to leave me alone?_ He hastily cast a hesitation charm over the pot and went to answer his door, inwardly fuming.

His anger drained away, however, when he opened the door to see his daughter standing before him, looking abashed.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, and avoiding any title, "but I really need to do something to keep my mind occupied. Would you mind if I made a few things?" She kept her gaze lowered and averted; Snape was entirely unsure as to what to make of her. After a few moments of silence, he stepped back and waved her in.

"Not at all," he mumbled, hating that he couldn't turn his sarcasm on her and avoid his conscience. Snape went back to his potion and finished it quickly, hardly noticing what Adrienne did. When he did pick his head up from bottling his potion, he noted that the girl was picking ingredients almost at random and setting them down on her workbench. She had set her titanium cauldron on a low flame. Snape picked up his syllabus and pretended to go over it, all the while watching what Adrienne did.

And watching, he was astounded. He had known, in his classes, that she had an intuition for this magic that he hadn't seen for decades, if ever, yet to watch her work with no restraints was like watching art. She barely paused in her movements. She sliced ingredients, ground herbs in her pestle and mortar, cooked and stirred and heated to perfection. At some point in time, Snape became aware that he had put down his syllabus and was staring in admiration. She never looked up at him.

Hours must have passed, yet Snape didn't feel a single one. When Adrienne finished, she bottled the potion, and labelled it in her clear script; placed in on the table in front of Snape. He picked up the bottle to read the label. _"Dreamserum_?" Snape asked, looking at the colour and consistency of the potion. "That's a very hard potion to make." _Yet, she's made it perfectly, without any instructions,_ he said silently to himself. He looked up at Adrienne, only to find that she wasn't standing in front of his desk, as he had expected her to be. Instead, she was in the back corner of the classroom, her arms covered in suds, cleaning her cauldron. He shook his head in amazement.

"Adrienne," he called, loud enough for her to hear over the running water. She turned her dark eyes to look at him, without saying a word. Her face was pale, but her mouth set in a determined line. "Any time you want to make a potion, you're welcome." He watched with some small amusement as her eyes widened at this unexpected turn of events, then saw her smile.

"Thanks," she replied, before turning back to her sudsy sink. Snape shook his head again, put his syllabus away, tidied a few things, and escorted his daughter to dinner.

"Did we miss lunch?" she asked, bemused.

"I think so," he replied, glancing at the dark sky outside. "Or we missed dinner as well."


	31. Chapter 30

A/N: A fun little chapter with soul-wars and terror all round.

Thanks Tomfeltonssexiiwun! Glad you're enjoying it :)

Thanks Minimouse- I'd love to read your story! Glad you're enjoying it!

Thanks Meredith- I like the name, and it's meaning too! I'm sure I'll resurrect her before the end of the story…

Thanks jamesismysweetheart- glad you're enjoying!!

Thanks AnnabelleElizabeth- I love it, don't you! I have plans… ^_~

Thanks Jaelle- I know… thanks for bringing that to my attention. Don't worry, it'll get sorted out soon enough.

And now… on with the story!

Chapter 30

"Hello," Hermione said coldly, as she entered the room she had been directed to. The figure on the bed writhed into a sitting position, opening bloodshot eyes to peer at the intruder. 

"Hello," the woman croaked, equally icily. Hermione sat in a seat beside the bed, wondering what would do this to a woman. She knew the answer, of course. A pain-spirit.

The woman's face- although probably beautiful before- was reddened and angry, blistered and swollen. In several places her flesh was eaten away, and from these places, clear fluid wept, mingled with traces of blood. She looked as though she had been attacked with strong acid, her hair and clothes charred around the edges.

"You look a little worse for wear," Hermione stated, glaring at the woman. Despite her horrific state, she couldn't find any way to feel compassion for her. This woman had nearly murdered her daughter, and it was only by luck that she had been rescued. She wouldn't have cared either way.

"A little," the woman glared back, her eyes, though watering, still piercingly blue.

"Good to see you've learned the error of your ways," Hermione looked the woman over- her legs and arms were eaten almost beyond recognition- her fingers were eaten through the bone. The pain-spirit had had a ball with this woman. There was little way she would ever even be able to life a wand again.

"The only error I ever made," the woman hissed from behind her blistered mouth, "was to try to complete my rainbow." Then she closed what remained of her eyelids and refused to be drawn any further. 

Hermione was left to puzzle over her parting words. But, seeing she would get no further reaction from this woman, and that she was hardly a threat any longer, she apparated to the Auror Training Facility, beginning the long trek up to the building. The flowers, as she walked up the path, were beginning to die, reminding Hermione that summer was nearly over for another year. Hermione smiled sadly at the beginning buds of the autumn roses, getting ready for their dying display before they fell back into dormancy for another three months, getting ready to burst into colour in spring again.

Finally, Hermione reached the large, double doors that presented themselves before her. She announced her name and business ("Hermione Granger, Auror- to speak with Kate Tiaret"), and passed through unhindered. She walked up the seemingly endless stairs; finally reaching the door that announced her mentor's name. The door was ajar, which seemed odd to Hermione. Her eyes narrowed, and she pulled out her wand, holding it before her, she stood to one side of the door and pushed it inwards.

The door creaked inward, the inside of the doorway darkened. Hermione circled around the doorframe, keeping to the inward wall. She inched along the short entryway where Kate kept her coats, and rounded the doorway at the other end. This door was firmly shut. Hermione touched the knob- it was startlingly cold. Hermione wrenched the door open, blundering in. The scene inside shocked her.

Four men in black floor-length trench coats surrounded Kate, castrate on the floor. She was writhing in pain, making inarticulate noises in the back of her throat. The men surrounding her were muttering under their breaths. Hermione stared, wide eyed, at the scene, before something hit her sharply on the back of the head. The world blossomed into sharp relief, before fading quickly to black.

~*~

Ruth sat at the table, astonished. 

"You mean, you just taught yourself?"

"Yup," Draco grinned, loving the attention, and her startlement, "I had a bit of spare time, so I decided to learn."

"It's not something just widely known about- how did you discover it?" Her Spartan eyes were wide in disbelief.

"I was meditating- something I learned how to do in Auror training- and I just took that step forward, you know, out of myself. I was confronted with this world that I knew nothing about. I did a bit of research, and then practiced at home. Turns out, I'm a natural," he gave her a showy smile, opening his arms wide. His robes pinched his shoulders, and he inwardly reminded himself that he needed to order new ones.

"I can't believe it," Ruth muttered, shaking her head. "I'll never understand. It took me years and years with my Apprenticemaster, and even then, I was a nervous wreck without my circle. It took me years, decades to get to where I am now. And you've only been practicing for eighteen years?" Ruth drilled her fingers across the table repeatedly. 

"Lianna's better," Draco added. He was filled with a pointless desire to see the woman gasp in surprise. It made her face elongate, and her ears twitch. _And,_ Draco admitted silently to himself, _I adore the attention._

"What?" The woman sounded outraged, slapping her palms loudly on the table. "How can she be better?"

"Well," he drawled, "She learned how to talk in minutes, and I towed her here after a few hours. And even now, she's roaming the highways of the soul, learning the ropes." _Maybe I've gone too far,_ Draco thought to himself, when Ruth's face went dead white. _I always knew my bragging would get me in trouble one of these days._

"She's out there alone? And you _let_ her? Don't you know what sort of people are _out_ there?" Ruth's anger carried her to her feet, and her eyes were blazing with outrage. Draco quickly saw that he had misinterpreted her- she wasn't angry with him; she was upset about Lianna. _That's ok then!_ Draco sighed, relieved.

"She's fine. In fact," Draco pulled out his enchanted watch, "I've got a lesson with her in five minutes. She's probably just doing homework now. This little chat's been _so_ much fun," he smirked, "but I must be going now. Places to go, people to see and all that." Ruth quivered with rage for a moment, before letting it go, and beginning to laugh.

"Ah, you are so transparent, dear. I look forward to another chat with you at another time, Draco." She smiled beatifically at him, and Draco grinned back, exiting the room carefully.

"That is one odd woman," he remarked to himself after he had closed the door firmly behind himself. He began to whistle as he trotted down the hallways to the classroom set aside for his tutoring of his daughter.

When he reached the room, he knew that something was wrong. The pillows that had been strewn across the floor were broken apart, and feathers were still floating down from the ceiling. Draco spun his eyes around the room from the doorway until he spotted her.

Lianna's eyes were blazing darkly, her cheeks burning and her hair standing on end. She turned from her destruction of pillows to see Draco, and hissed, right from the depths of her being. Draco took a step backwards. He glanced at the floor- the circle was unbroken. _How is she out then?_ His mind screamed as he dodged a lunging attack from his possessed daughter. Her eyes gleamed burnished crimson in the bright sunlight of the hallway. Draco grabbed Lianna's arms and used his knee to hold her body away from himself.

_I can't hold her like this for very much longer,_ he realised as his arms began to quiver. _Hiding in the woods for eighteen years didn't help my physical fitness any._ And, with a momentary thought, Draco did the only thing he could think of.

~*~

_Into the darkness he plunged, his silver light flipping around desperately for the sight of his daughter's body. There! He spotted it, and surged towards it, leaving his darkened body behind. _

_He stopped, halting a few paces from her. There- a thread, into her body. He touched her lifeline, and gave it a tiny jerk. _Bring her back_, he thought to himself. Then, he took a hold of the thin thread that snuck down her throat. He began to pull it._

_It cut his fingers like silk, like diamond wire, but even the pain of this didn't stop him. He wound it around his hands and pulled. Suddenly, the glowing golden light of his daughter's aura appeared. _

_"What's going on, dad?" she queried, looking interested at him. He grunted and pulled another few inches of the glowing green line out of the body._

_"Your body has been possessed. I'm fighting on two fronts here. Think you could help?" Grunt, another few inches. He wound it around his hand again. He could see glowing silver light streaming from his wounded hand. He kept pulling._

_"How could it get in?" she whimpered, "I had the circle." Nevertheless, she took a hold of the body that was her own, and began to pull it backwards from the shoulders. Together, they heaved and pulled until he finally removed a tiny bubble on the end of the string. He removed the silk from his hand, and the body reformed._

_"You are evil!" The creature screamed, twisting into a twister, rustling the sparse wind into their hair and heaving past them into the darkness beyond._

_"What was that?" she exclaimed, gazing after it, rubbing her hands against her upper arms protectively._

_"That," he replied, "Was a lost soul. Its body died, perhaps, before it could return, or someone else took it. That is what will attack you if you are out here too long. Shall we go home and continue the lesson?"_

_She nodded, and he left to return to his body. He fell into it, the world spinning around him…_

~*~

There was an ear-piercing shriek when he opened his eyes.

"What?" He exclaimed as he stood up from where he had collapsed. He looked at his hand, and realised that he would need help with it. Then he looked to Lianna.

She was covered in blood, yet she wasn't looking at herself.

"Draco?" she whispered, tears in her eyes; "Maybe you shouldn't have come after me until you had tied me up."

Draco looked down at his body, and saw why she had screamed. The world swirled away into darkness again.


	32. Chapter 31

A/N: Another wondrous chapter. Adrienne and Lianna. Thanks to my beautiful reviewers! And sorry about the lack of gory details of the possession-attack; I thought I'd keep it a little clean- less mess to clean up with no blood on the pages.

Chapter 31

_"…I don't know, it's pretty bad…"_

_"…But he'll be better?"_

_"…Unsure…"_

_"…Weeks, months…"_

_"…Wakes up…"_

Lianna sat beside her father, in a strange reversal of roles. Madam Pomfrey fluttered around, largely just checking on him, and pulling the already-flat sheets straight. Lianna sighed and watched her father's pale face in repose. His silvery hair was sprinkled around the pillow his head rested on, giving him the impression of a halo. Lianna was impressed that the colour of his hair was also the colour of the ripples of his aura. 

Adrienne walked in with the careful grace that she always exhibited, her dark hair bound up in a ponytail today.

"How are you, Lianna?" she asked, her voice low, as she seated herself beside her sister. Lianna noticed that her hands were slightly discoloured, and her nails were dirty.

"I'll be better when he is," she replied, motioning to her father. To have found him only to mortally wound him was not a nice predicament, and her conscience was rattling her with real and imagined precautions she might have taken, and problems that she had caused in her life.

"Lianna, do you remember when we were kids, and you broke Melissa's nose?"

"Yeah," Lianna mumbled absently, caught in her thoughts. 

"Do you remember how you hounded yourself about it for weeks, asking her if there were anything you could do for her, that you were really sorry?"

Lianna paused from her self-flagellation and looked at her sister, remembering. "Yes, I do. She ended up yelling at me that it wasn't my fault, it was an accident and there was nothing I could have done otherwise. Then I felt really bad about hounding her, and apologised about that for weeks." She smiled weakly at the memory.

"Are you learning from your previous mistakes, Li?" Adrienne asked softly, her mouth curving into a gentle smile. Lianna returned her with one of her own.

"I am now that you've reminded me." She broadened her smile to show her thanks, then returned her gaze to her father. "He's really not a bad guy. You remember all the stories that Sarah told us that her father told her about Draco Malfoy? This almost seems to be a different person. And he's my father. I don't want to lose him, Ri," she returned her eyes, glistening, to her sister. Adrienne reached out her hand and touched her sister's arm.

"I know," she said softly. "I can't say that I'm overly impressed with him, but if you like him, that's all I can ask." Adrienne smiled weakly at her sister, but squeezed her arm with her hand.

"Thanks," Lianna said softly, "You can borrow him sometimes, if your father's not up to standard," her tone continued quietly, but her eyes twinkled mischievously.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry too much, Li. My father's not too bad, either." Adrienne grinned. Lianna opened her eyes wide, mocking her sister with fake innocence.

"Your father- who was he again? I can't seem to remember his name. Oh! Snape! I remember now… he's not so bad? How can you say that?" But she ruined her act with a trill of laughter, throwing her head back and shaking her shoulders.

"I've been making things," Adrienne confided in her sister, grin still on her face. "He seems to appreciate it." Lianna nodded.

"He would. I can see it- you haven't washed under your nails."

"You'd think that all that time I spent in the sink would have helped, but no, I've still the same amount of grot as before. Oh, look at this," she said to Lianna, showing her the grime from underneath her fingernails, "Ground up liverwort. I knew that stuff would get everywhere." Lianna giggled nervously, backing away from the extended finger. "Oh, Li, you wouldn't be afraid of a little dirt, would you?"

"Never!" Lianna proclaimed, standing to her feet boldly. "I'll take your challenge any day!" She placed her hands on her hips, shoulders square. Her hair shone with a vibrancy all of its own in its delicate ringlets.

"Really?" Adrienne raised one eyebrow.

"Oh, don't do that," Lianna grimaced, "You look like your father."

"Really?" She repeated, scowling at her sister.

"I can't believe I never saw that before!"

"Oh!" Adrienne replied, "Now I can see the expression that your father wore most days in potions… vapid mischief!"

"I am _not_ vapid!"

"Oh, of course not," Adrienne shrugged her shoulders, "just a little empty, that's all."

"I am not an air head!"

"Never said you were, dear. A little blank, maybe…" Adrienne laughed delightedly at her sister, who promptly threw herself at her sister, tickling her.

"Oi! Don't do that, it tickles! I said, don't! Hey!" Adrienne fended off a barrage of attacks from her sister, before they fell into a tangle on the floor.

"Hey," said a masculine voice, slightly fuzzy. "Can't a man sleep in here?" Instantly both girls were standing at their feet, shamefaced.

"Sorry, daddy," Lianna said contritely.

Draco looked up at the girl, and laughed gently, before wincing and stopping, placing a hand on his stomach. "I think you ate a bit too much before. I've got stomach aches again." He smiled at his joke, although Adrienne discoloured a little, and Lianna merely winced. "I was joking! It's ok, Lianna. It's not your fault."

"Oh, daddy, I'm so sorry, I know it's not my fault, but I still feel so bad, I wish there was something I could do to help, please let me do something to help, I feel so bad, I'm so sorry, please forgive me, I'm so sorry, daddy, you don't mind if I call you that do you? Please don't make me go away, I just want to make it up to you…" Draco stopped her relentless whining with a raised hand.

"How do you do that?" Adrienne demanded, "It usually takes me threatening her with disembowelment before she'll shut up for me." She grinned at Lianna's scowl. "Don't throw your head around like that, Li. You'll give yourself whiplash. And your hair will go straight." Adrienne laughed at the horrified hand that Lianna threw up to her hair.

At that moment, Madam Pomfrey bustled in, and she quickly shooed the girls out of the room. "You'll only make him worse. He needs rest, not an assault on his ears. Out. Out!" And like dust, they were swept from the room. Lianna waved an amused goodbye to her father as they were rushed out and before Poppy closed the door firmly behind herself.

"Aw, she spoils all my fun," Lianna said lightly.

"Yes, but Draco will recover quicker if we're not in there, which will be more fun, won't it?" Adrienne linked her arm through her sister's, subtly guiding her.

"You remember a couple of weeks ago, when you decided that it would be a good idea to tell Snape that he's my father, and your soul was hijacked?" Lianna nodded, looking up at her sister curiously. "Well, you remember how Aunt Minerva wanted to talk to us about our places for University?" Lianna nodded again, slightly worried this time, "Well, I think it would be a good idea to go and talk to her about it, don't you? Since University starts in mid-October?" Lianna nodded wearily.

"But I don' wanna!" she whined, then laughed and sighed to her sister. "I guess that means that we'll be going somewhere different, won't we? We'll never live together in the same way again, will we? It'll be really odd, not having you there whenever I need you," she frowned.

"I'll always be there when you need me, Li! And I darn well hope that we'll share a house- I wouldn't want to have spent the last eighteen years housetraining you for someone else to reap the benefits!" Adrienne laughed.

"Didn't mama housetrain both of us?"

"Yes, dear, but you needed refinement."

"Oh, did I now?" Lianna pulled her arm from her sister's.

"Well, I guess I shouldn't have said anything, but yes. It's true." The girls dissolved into giggles, and finally reached Minerva's door.

"Yes girls?" She said cautiously when she saw the girl's laughing faces at her door.

"Well,"

"We," They said at the same time, before Lianna waved for Adrienne to speak.

"We want to have that talk about options that you wanted to have near the beginning of all this. About University."

"Oh, good," Minerva sighed, letting the girls in. "I though you were going to say that something else horrid had happened. Well, come in then," she sat them down and the talk began.


	33. Chapter 32

A/N: Another chapter of Children up. What could be better?

Tomfeltonssexiiwun: Thanks! Just knowing that you're reading is a great blossom of joy that bursts into my heart. Let's hope that our darlings get somewhere, and don't get dead, hey?

Snape'sWitch: Glad you're reading!! Nothing more would make my day. Thanks!

Hermione's in trouble. I wonder if she knows just how much? Of course not.

Chapter 32

She came to consciousness slowly, her head pounding, her vision blurred and filled with stabbing light, ripping into her eyelids and demanding they open. She strained her hands to rest them upon her burning eyes, but there was something holding them firm. Her throbbing head made her vision spin as she squinted her eyes open. She was, her blurry gaze informed her, tied up on a bed. The contoured mattress curved to her every protrusion and recess- when she tried to move she learned that the reason for this was that it was a waterbed. 

"Only Muggles could have thought of such a useless waste of water," she grumbled. There was a large window in the wall, letting in the sun. After laying there for a long while, she decided that the sun was rising- therefore the window was facing east. She puffed out a huge sigh, moving her restricted fingers and waiting for something to happen other than the pins and needles that were beginning in her feet. She wriggled around; thoroughly disturbed when she bumped into something behind her that she couldn't see. Flipping herself over efficiently (and making the bed wobble outrageously) she saw that a blonde woman was trussed up beside her on the huge bed.

"Kate!" Hermione exclaimed, waiting for the woman to respond. After a moment, she wondered what was wrong with the woman. After all, she was barely tied- her feet and hands tied, but in front of her body. Hermione inched over to listen to her friend's breathing- only to come into contact with clammy, cold skin. She pulled back sharply, her breathing coming in short, sharp gasps. She knew that her eyes were wide and her mouth open, but she could think of nothing other than that her good friend and role model was now dead, and in bed with her. A shriek flew without forethought from her mouth. She shuffled to the furthest edge of the bed before she spared a thought for falling out of it. The white linen bedspread bunched at her feet, and she kicked at it, trying to spread it evenly again. Every movement she made caused the bed to rock and kick, the waves moving and causing Kate's limp body to roll and lurch.

A door opened, a breeze floated in, carrying a scent of charcoal and the tingling tang of iron. A man dressed entirely in black robes walked around to the side of the bed, casting a wary eye over her, before grabbing Kate's dangling arms and throwing her over his shoulder. Hermione was disturbed to see a large bruise at the back of Kate's neck- yet it was almost certainly what had killed her. Hermione squinted her eyes shut. The door thudded closed, and she heard the man inform someone that, 'the other woman in there' was awake. His voice was raspy, and his tone was sneering. Hermione came to the conclusion very quickly that she didn't like him, nor this place. She took the chance to flip over and look at the scenery outside. _Better to look uninterested and unperturbed,_ she decided. 

Outside, the sun was still shining brightly, having climbed a few more degrees up the horizon. The light pouring through the window carried with it a lazy warmth. Hermione looked down at the grounds; they were manicured, plush lawns and sculpted gardens covered a large area, surrounded by a tall, ivy-encrusted stonewall. _Protection,_ Hermione remembered with disgust. The door opened again, and though she couldn't see the person, she expected the worst; they would kill her like they had Kate.

"I'm sorry about the reception you received," a deep feminine voice resounded in the woodwork around the room. Hermione strained with herself to keep from spinning around to see the woman. She kept her eyes firmly planted on the gardens. The woman chuckled, before she grabbed Hermione's bound hands and pulled her backwards. Her shoulders ached, but she moved, recognising the pressure as threatening, but only if she disobeyed. The woman pulled her from the bed and to her feet before her. 

She was dressed in similar black robes as the man had been, her hair tied up in a complex knot at the nape of her neck. Her eyes were a burning grey-green, startling in combination with her black hair and pale complexion. "It's impolite to ignore your hostess when she addresses you," she growled. The words caused Hermione to shiver, though she hoped that the woman didn't feel it and diagnose it for the fear that it was.

"I'm sorry, but when you truss me up and kill my friend, I'm not prone to being polite. If I'm a prisoner here, I'd like my phone call." Hermione glared at the woman, daring her to respond and grow angry.

Instead, the woman laughed. "A witch who knows Muggle ways! It's been a long time since anybody here gave me intelligent conversation. About all most wizards know about Muggle ways is that they have crazy objects that work without magic, and they must be so hard done by, because they have to rely on something other than their magic. Wizards are so blind." This last was vehement, the woman's disturbing eyes turned away from her captive and glaring out the window. Hermione felt relief flood her for the moment that her eyes were diverted, then apprehension fill her once again as the woman's eyes rested on her again. "I am Carmen Kirati. Everyone here calls me Kirati. I prefer it. Once we know if you are safe, we will unbind you. Until then, you'll be guarded. We'll tell you the story of your friend _Kate_ later." She spat the name as though it were a curse. Picking up the woman (though Hermione protested, she could do nothing), Kirati brought her into the room beyond the bedroom. 

A large room with dozens of black robed men and women rested beyond. Most eyes turned towards them for a moment, before returning to the tasks that they were doing. Hermione winced at the sound of blades being scraped against whetstones. Everywhere she looked, people in black robes were squatting or sitting and grinding blades. Hermione kept her trepidation to herself, but could feel it growing like cancer in her stomach. In the centre of the room was a large, hot fire. A chimney funnelled the smoke through the roof and into the atmosphere beyond it, though it was open on all sides. 

"We'll find a use for that later," Kirati informed her, catching her gaze on the roaring blaze. Hermione winced as the woman threw her to the ground. She landed surprisingly gently. "Blackhawk, keep an eye on her," she ordered a man nearby, who nodded curtly and moved over to sit in front of her. He had a long, balanced blade in his hand and he was grinding his whetstone down its length. Seeing her discomfort, he grinned maliciously and leaned in closer.

"You'll be more squeamish later, lambkin," he smirked. His blade glittered. Hermione was startled to see runes carved into the hilt and all along the blade itself. Protection, bloodshed, honour, vengeance were all written clearly into the blade; grip, determination, balance, trust in the hilt. Hermione wondered exactly where she was, not for the first time today, though a suspicion entered her mind, telling her that she didn't really want to know.

A long time went past, and the man- Blackhawk- ground several more blades to razor sharpness in her sight. Finally, Kirati returned. From her spot on the floor, the woman appeared even taller and more imposing than she had when Hermione had had the vantage point of the bed. "It's time for the ceremony," the woman announced in her deep, throaty voice mysteriously. A wink of her disturbing eye at Hermione, and the entire room erupted into movement.


	34. Chapter 33

Chapter 33

It took them a while to realise that Hermione was missing.

"Well, if she's not here, where is she?" Adrienne demanded angrily. Her cheeks were roaring again, and she didn't care. She was furious. This would be the second time in as many weeks that she had lost her mother. Draco meekly brought his eyes to meet her own.

"I think she might have gone to hospital," he said from behind his dinner plate. Adrienne's gaze smouldered into him until he gave more details.

"She said that she was going to investigate the woman. She went to the hospital- the Muggle one, you know," Adrienne rolled her eyes- her mother had educated her enough for her to realise that there was more than just _one_ Muggle hospital in London.

"Which one," she ground out, her anger making her skin sweat.

"The one on the side of the city that the woman lived on. I don't know, she just said that she'd be back by the afternoon. She's a grownup, she's able to take care of herself," Draco was saved from certain death by the runner.

The man was tall, his hair and eyes dark, his nose long and straight, and he exuded an air of quiet competence. Adrienne's eyes flickered over to her father before she glared once again at the man.

"Who are you?" she asked impertinently. She didn't feel like being polite at this point in time- all she wanted was to find her mother. The man just gave her a small smile and helped himself to a glass of pumpkin juice. 

"I," he said once he had seated himself and drank his glass, "am Seeker. I am a hireling," he smiled at some personal joke in this word, "to the Auror Academy. I run errands for them." He refilled his glass. Adrienne was bursting.

"What do you want, then?" Her ears were burning, too, now, and it was all she could do to keep from bursting out into either spontaneous tears, or hysteric rage. Inside, she was a boiling vat of emotions, none of which positive. The man just smiled again.

"I have a message for you all." The dinner table, already quiet, became so silent that a mouse would have been heard running at the other end of the Great Hall. "At around lunchtime today, five men in black robes entered the Auror Training Facility. They proceeded to Kate Tiaret's rooms. Therein, they kidnapped her. Unfortunately, one of your staff," he indicated Minerva with his head, "happened into the room as they were preparing to leave. She was taken also. I have been requested to bring this message here, and to help you recover your staff member. We had known about this attempt for quite some time, and decided to leave it to happen. We did not, however, foresee the involvement of your staff member. We are sorry that we have involved you in an internal matter, and hope that you will forgive the Academy and return to cordial relations with them. We would not expect this to happen if your staff member were not returned to you, whole in body and mind. Please consider." The man rolled his eyes.

"Now that I've delivered the message, I can stop using the royal plural. I'm here to help. Does that answer your questions, missy?" he asked Adrienne's paler-than-usual face. Somewhere, all her anger had drained away, leaving her cold.

"I think so," she replied, fumbling to get to a seat before her legs gave way beneath her. "Now tell me what you mean by 'kidnapped', and letting it happen."

The mysterious smile made another appearance. "Well," he began, "it all started with a snotty, pureblood witch with high morals about issues she really knew very little about. She left school- Hogwarts, coincidentally- and ran into a little trouble. Daddy dearest wouldn't pay for University, and there was really very little she could do without training in one area or other.

"One day, in her moping, she ran into a man in a black robe. He offered to help her with her training, and she would end up with qualifications to enter law enforcement. Her little mind ticking over the possibilities, she agreed without thought to what might be required of her at the end of the metaphoric day.

"She went to the place where the man lived, and met his leader- a woman of some small renown. 'I run', she said, 'a warrior tribe who perform all sorts of acts for pay. We may proclaim war on a particular class of society, or we may dispose of a person in silence. We are the most feared society in wizarding culture. We are the Blackhawks,' which was enough to send a shiver down the girl's back. _But, _she reasoned with herself, _they are a respectable wizarding tradition, and I will be learning things to go on into another profession_, she told herself. So she agreed to join, and took the blood oath.

"She was trained in the ways of the tribe, though they often turned her stomach. She learned to kill in cold blood, and how to read people's stances and faces. She was taught a great deal more than is covered in even the most thorough Auror training, and she practiced what she learned also. It wasn't long before she was more than qualified to join the Auror ranks. She went back to the leader to ask for out.

"'Well,' the woman replied, 'there is the small thing of the payment for your tuition.' The girl looked worried at this, as she had very little money of her own.

"'What payment do you want? You know my money better than I do.'

"'Actually,' the woman answered, 'it is not money we require from you. It is service. You have trained here, and you will serve here. It is our way. However,' the woman's eyes sparkled with mischief, 'I do understand that you have been promised a _respectable_ job with the Aurors. You may do great good there for us by turning a blind eye on a great many things. You know our sign,' the woman finished with a wink. 'I will write your reference.'

"The girl sighed as the woman left to go and write her reference. She gripped her dagger in her sleeve. Perhaps she could cancel the debt before it began? She followed the woman into the room, drawing her dagger and sliding it into her back. 

"The woman turned at the last instant, and instead of a fatal blow, the razor-sharp dagger slid into her shoulder. The woman's eyes glistened with pain and betrayal.

"'You will pay for this,' the woman hissed, sliding her shoulder off the blade. She handed the girl her paper and walked from the room, her shoulder spilling blood all the way. The girl shook with terror, waiting for the retaliation for her attack. 

"She was struck in the back with a spell, and, though it only appeared to turn her hair blonde, it burned into her very soul a mark- the midnight mark of the Blackhawks. It was by this that they tracked her down when it was time for payment. 

"The Aurors, knowing that this was a blood feud, kept out of the way. Unfortunately, one variable introduced an element of danger- a woman who knew nothing of this story entered the scene and had the brave idea of saving a woman whom she had only partially known. She is not accountable for this- yet, she should not stay in the hands of the Blackhawks. She is innocent of this tale and merely a loose thread. Let us hope she has enough common sense not to become a loose cannon."

The man finished his story with his audience still entranced. After a moment, heads were shaken and the threads of magic- such old magic that it is often discarded as merely imagination- were broken. 

"But," Draco asked, "I've never heard of 'Tiaret' as a pureblood name. Surely I'd know it if it were," he added, picking up a little of Seeker's poetic language.

"She changed it," he shrugged, drinking deep of another glass of pumpkin juice.

"Well, what was it before she changed it?" he asked impatiently.

"I don't know. I'm not privy to such classified information," the man parroted with a wink. "That's Auror language for they have no idea either, so they can't exactly pass it on."

"Oh." Draco looked crestfallen.

"I want mama," Lianna mourned unhelpfully. She lowered her head to her arms on the table, her shoulders shaking with tears. Draco draped an arm over her, giving her comfort. 

"I want that woman," Adrienne growled.

"Good luck," Seeker chirped, setting down his glass. "She's the original Blackhawk. She's invisible and immortal. There's not a chance you'll catch her. And she's not a bad person, at any rate," he shrugged. "Just practical."

"Practical, my toenail. If mama's even _scratched_ I will take an accounting for every wound threefold. And nobody get in my way," she glared at everyone present. Seeker just beamed at her, while everyone else shook their heads meekly.

"I'll help," Snape spoke clearly over the table noise. Adrienne met his eyes, saw the anger that burned there and nodded.


	35. Chapter 34

A/N: Hermione's privy to a Blackhawk ritual- with a surprising ending.

Thanks to my lovely reviewers!

Serpents Tear: Oh, yes. I have plans for Hermione…

Chapter 34

Hermione sank into the ground, wishing that it would swallow her whole. The black robed people- faceless swooping shapes- rumbled around her. Hands grabbed her shoulders and sat her down with her back to the fire, some metres away. There was silence in the room- the only light from the fire behind her back. She could feel it burning into her, even from this distance. She absently wondered how hot it was.

"In the beginning, there was darkness." A voice originated from behind the huge circle of interlocked black-robes, but from where exactly, Hermione was unable to gauge, so much did it resonate. It crawled down her spine, giving her a shiver, despite the heat at her back. All the faces were staring at her: _Or perhaps, _Hermione thought rationally,_ they're staring at the fire behind me._

"Light split through the darkness, driving it back. However, it was unable to defeat the darkness. Even now, they struggle backwards and forwards- every day a battle." A thread of light had dropped from the roof to the spot where she was sitting, a spotlight of sunlight, silvery. 

"We are servants of the darkness, living our lives in the dark." This was spoken by every voice around the room. The effect was eerie- Hermione could feel her small measure of self-control slipping. 

"The ones who settle in the light fear us, for at any moment shadows may find them." Someone walked around from the other side of the fire, and leaned in to steal her light, casting her into shadow. Hermione looked up, terrified, at the figure. The light behind it was too bright, however, and she couldn't make out features.

"Tremble, little light-dweller," an unfamiliar voice grated. Hermione felt her body reply to the demand without conscious volition. 

"We are Blackhawks," the circle chanted, and the figure that had loomed over her disappeared back into the faceless multitude. "Living in the darkness, spurning the light, we serve only the darkness. Darkness speaks, darkness speaks," this was echoed for a little while, before Hermione saw- squinting through her circle of light- Kirati step forward. The circle closed behind her.

"I will tell you my story, light-dweller, so that you may fear me and the darkness." There was hushed murmuring behind her around the circle, like rustling leaves in the wind. Kirati stooped to draw Hermione out of the light and put her on the floor in front of the light-spot. She herself stepped into the natural spotlight and looked up at an imagined audience.

"As a child, I dwelt in the light." There was the odd hiss around the circle, but this was drowned out with silence very quickly. "My parents knew nothing of magic, nothing of witches and wizards. I was the only child of two Muggles." Another few mutters, again very quickly quashed. Hermione got the impression that Kirati was taking note of the people dissenting and would deal with them later. She continued her performance.

"My parents were destroyed in the first year I entered the world of magic. I never knew them as people, only parents. My heart began to burn with the fires of vengeance. The Aurors told me that there was nothing they could do to find the killers of my parents, nor any real punishment they could give them. I was amazed at their impotence. I forged in the fires of my rage the idea of a flock of Blackhawks to disperse vengeance. It was many years before my creation was forged.

"On leaving my education, I found someone to lead me in the paths of knowledge. He guided my hand in many a kill. When he saw how deeply the fires burned in my heart, though, he despaired of my future. I scorned him and turned my back on his tuition. 

"I began to make my living, payment for vengeance. I gathered to myself people of like minds. We train, we live in darkness. We spin ourselves into a myth that is fearfully muttered under the breaths of Purebloods whenever a judgement killing takes place. We are the Blackhawks, my dream. We will exist long after I am gone, part of the whole. After every day is the darkness, and after every joy, there is death. We are that death.

"So, little light-dweller, are you afraid?" Kirati stooped over Hermione's prone figure on the ground. She sneered at her quivering face, standing tall and proud once again. "The light-dweller cringes before us. Shall we spare her?"

A few mutterings, then someone bellowed, "Yes."

"Why do we spare the cringing light-dweller?" Kirati asked.

"For she knows not with whom she deals," came the resounding reply, part of the liturgy.

"But I told her my story- surely she knows now?" Kirati had a lopsided smile. There were more murmurings from the Blackhawks. She was testing them. 

"She has family?" someone asked from the crowd. Kirati nodded her head.

"Then," the same voice continued, "It would not be justified to remove her. We are arms of justice- not injustice. We take vengeance, not become the cause for vengeance. Spare her." Kirati's smile widened.

"Come forward, Blackhawk." It occurred to Hermione belatedly that Blackhawk was a title, not a name. _Oh_, she thought to herself. Yet, she rested in the mercy of these people.

The woman stepped into the circle of light with Kirati. She was quite a few years younger than the older woman, bright red curls wisping around her head, her face set determinedly despite her leader's smile.

"Blackhawk Sarah Weasley, you will be leader when I am long dead and gone." Hermione started, looking into the face of the student she had taught for so long- _did she recognise me?_ Hermione wondered. Sarah's face was still set.

"It is the will of my leader. I have no wish for leadership, yet submit to the leading of the darkness." Kirati continued to smile.

"You are indeed the one to lead. If you desired power, I would strip you of power. You have justice- justice that we uplift. Also, you speak up for this justice. Your heart burns with vengeance-fire. You are to be leader when I am gone. You are second in command." Kirati lifted up the girl's arm, who was still not smiling, yet the entire room erupted into cheering.

Hermione wondered why these people who proclaimed to worship the darkness had such an acute sense of justice. 

The light-spot faded and died, leaving only the light of the bonfire. Kirati and Sarah moved into the now-disarrayed group of Blackhawks, leaving Hermione at the mercy of feet. Still, nobody stepped on her, making Hermione aware of the amazing perceptions of these dark-dwellers.

_I guess I'll be here for a little while longer,_ Hermione commiserated herself.


	36. Chapter 35

A/N: a short, interim chapter; just to keep you on the edge of your seats, and tie up a few loose ends. 

Thanks to my beautiful reviewers!

Mandi: Oh, to tell you would be to ruin it all! But we'll just she where she ends up, shall we?

Serpents-tear: the Blackhawks are about vengeance. Of course, this means 'taking the law into their own hands', as they kill for money, and therefore they are 'of the dark'. Yet they hold true to the ideal of justice. It's a tale of mistreatment, much as poor Asa'Morana was a tale of mistreatment. Poor lady- we'll see if she turns up in later chapters.

Chapter 35

Jason Fox was not an overly bright person, though he was reliable. He followed orders very well. That may have been why they sent him. Jason- very plain-looking to anyone who observed him, with his nondescript brown hair, too-wide set brown eyes, snub nose and thin lips on an easily tanned background- entered the house, preparing himself for what he knew would be inside. In the front door, he murmured to himself as he stepped through the front door. Into the master bedroom, he muttered as he stepped into the master bedroom. Press the mirror in firmly, he articulated as he pressed the mirror in firmly. Empty the test tubes, he chanted as he unstoppered and emptied the test tubes onto the floor. The white substance in them wisped away to nothing, not even staining the carpet. Jason watched as it dissolved, then took out the bottle of liquid he had under the crook of his arm. Unstoppering this also, he began to spread the liquid over every surface in the house. Once he was done, he walked out the front door again, charming his boots clean from the place. From a safe distance, he sent a spark inside.

There was an earth-shattering explosion that broke many windows, billowing clear blue flame and black smoke from the site. After only a few minutes- which managed to melt to glassy smoothness the walls of the adjacent buildings- the fire died back down to nothing, leaving only a glassy indent where a house and garden had once been. Nothing was left, not even the fence. 

When the police arrived, there was nobody there, other than the spectators, drawn by the sound. Nobody had seen anyone, and nobody had heard anything. A mystery, the police department decided, and- seeing no resolution- put the case aside. The woman who owned the house was never popular, anyway, and the house had stood vacant for a while. Nobody really knew where she was. Nobody really cared. 

~*~

Jeremy Potter sat beside his parents, gazing blankly at their blank gazes. "Not too much longer, mum," he muttered to his mother's face; "A little bit longer," he whispered to his father's green eyes.


	37. Chapter 36

A/N: Why is Sarah here? 

Chapter 36

Hermione granger, trussed up like a turkey, sat meekly against the wall, as the girl she had once known- Sarah Weasley- was 'coroneted'. Her unruly red curls were framing her gloriously youthful face, her eyes shining with some unrecognisable emotion. Her face wasn't smiling, so it was possible it was not a good emotion. Hermione was dutifully ignored throughout. She shook her hair, thinking about a good, hot bath to soak out the creeping feeling on her skin and the oils out of her hair. She sighed- quietly, so as not to draw unwanted attention to herself- as she watched the girl given two razor-thin cuts, one on each side of her face. They ran from the temple to the side of her chin. She stood, stony-faced, through this, before a coloured mud was rubbed into the wounds. She winced as though it stung. After this momentary lapse, however, she hardened her face again. Kiraten then cast a healing charm on her face, and a cleaning charm. She was left with two red lines down her face, like she had just been cut. _Which_, Hermione thought absently to herself,_ she just has_. 

The girl was then given a new black robe with red stripes along its edges and the black-on-black Blackhawk sigil on the back. Hermione had only noticed it when the firelight shone awkwardly on the back of a Blackhawk's robes, and the fabric reflected differently. After that, she had seen the design on all the backs of their robes. It was distressing. Like having her innocence ripped away.

Sarah was then paraded around, and all the other Blackhawks reached out and stroked either her hair, her arm or the back of her cloak. Once every person had touched her, she was let go, and things went back to normal. Whatever that was. 

Hermione's eyes were watering from tiredness by now, and her limbs stiff from being tied up all day. Meat was roasted on the bonfire, somehow avoiding overcooking and emerging succulent. Hermione was fed morsels by a plain-looking Blackhawk woman, the juice dribbling down her chin. After being fed, Hermione was taken back to the bed she had awoken on that morning and left to sleep. They did leave her a blanket, which she was sure she was grateful for. Somewhere, deep down. After some time of writhing awkwardly for a few minutes she had the piece of cloth over herself suitably, and she fell into a fitful sleep, unused to the mattress (water, again) and the location, and still dealing with all the information that had been pushed into her in the past twenty-four hours. She slept fitfully, but she did sleep.

~*~

Adrienne, however, did not. All night she spent brewing potions- attack potions, and defence potions alike; planning out a strategy to break in and steal her mother back; and a quiet way of getting out again. It was difficult, and Adrienne felt that she was the only one putting in 100%. Snape was brewing potions in the lab; Lianna and Draco were preparing charms and soul magics to combat and disguise them; and Adrienne was trying to facilitate everything and do her own bit at the same time. She felt stretched too thin, but continued to do what she had been doing. She burst into the lab, saw Snape sitting down bottling a viscous green liquid into thin glass globes. He was wearing dragonhide gloves, so she assumed that the substance was quite nasty. She hoped that she wouldn't have to use it. Snape looked up as she closed the door behind herself. 

"How are the dreamers going?" he asked, contemptuously. Adrienne smiled half-heartedly.

"They're getting there. When I left they were in the same position as when I arrived- cross-legged on the floor, far off in the world of spirits. Draco surfaced for long enough to assure me that they were actually doing work, not just floating. I'm still not sure I'm convinced." 

"He reminds me of his father," Snape grimaced, capping the last globe. He levitated the cauldron over to the sink, and cleaned the pot without touching it. Adrienne frowned a little.

"Is it that nasty?" Adrienne asked, indicating the cauldron. Snape just nodded, fear and awe in his eyes. 

"I was hit with this my second year in the Death Eaters. Still have the scars. It wasn't one of the highlights of my joyful life," he announced wryly. Adrienne, after being taught by this man for her entire school life, was amazed that he could speak like a normal person, without sarcasm or hate in his voice. She wondered if she was an exception, or if it was standard practice for him to recognise past-students as human, rather than the subhuman standard that he held all students to. She put the thought aside to think about later. 

"How does he remind you of his father?" she asked after a moment's silence, water sloshing in the sink. Snape shrugged, as though reluctant now to talk.

"His father was always charming to everyone, except when it wasn't to his advantage. Then he used terror, or money. I feel that all we see now of Draco is glamour, put up to disguise himself to us. But," he shrugged again, "I haven't seen him- and neither has anyone else- for the past eighteen years. He may have changed." His tone implied that he didn't really believe this. Adrienne decided that now wasn't the time to talk about topics such as child-parent relationships. She returned her mind to the task at hand.

"So- what are we brewing next?" Snape looked at her, relief in being released from the topic of conversation apparent in his face. He flicked his hand towards the blackboard at the front of the room, and a formula began to appear. Adrienne grimaced at the ingredients' strength, but nodded at the board. 

"Let's get to it then, shall we?"


	38. Chapter 37

A/N: Another chapter… who knows where this will take us?

Annabelle Elizabeth: thanks for the review! And yes- more bonding. Wonderful, is it not?

Jamesismysweetheart: thanks! 

Chapter 37

Adrienne ran into a small problem, early the next morning. She rubbed the sleep out of the corners of her eyes, and squinted at Draco across the breakfast table.

"What do you mean, you have no idea where it is?" Draco just shook his head and shrugged- an interesting combination that made him look very awkward for a moment. Lianna just looked unquestioningly up at her father. Adrienne heard her own father's words ringing in her ears. Seeker shook his head, also.

"I could find out, but it would take a day."

Adrienne looked at him in profound relief. "Would you do that? We could use the day to continue on to readiness, and we can't really go anywhere if we don't know where we're going." Seeker just twinkled his dark eyes (_how does he do that?_ Adrienne wondered silently) and nodded at her.

"It would be my honour, my lady." He made a mocking little bow over the table. Adrienne was too tired to be annoyed, or even amused.

"Thankyou, Seeker. Everyone else- we're doing the same thing today as we did yesterday- we prepare. Jeremy?" Adrienne turned to look into his startlingly blue eyes- rimmed with red from tiredness. 

"Mmmm?" he mumbled through his toast, looking up at her blearily.

"Will you be joining us?"

"Uh uh," he grunted. He swallowed with what seemed to be a pained expression on his face. "I'm still researching." Adrienne narrowed her eyes, but shrugged her suspicions off. Jeremy was intelligent and level-headed. He could handle himself, and they didn't really need him. He'd just be another person underfoot. 

"Alright then." She said clearly, and turned her attention back to her breakfast also. The marmalade that the House Elves used really did taste divine.

~*~

Seeker stepped out into the crowded street, glancing overhead at the sun. He wouldn't see it for a while, in the darkness of Knockturn Alley. He noted the time, and set out, his stride confident and assured. The darkness of the alley turned and accepted him into its warm, dry embrace. He moved along unhindered until he reached the shop. Stepping through the doorway and ignoring the tinkle of the bell, he lounged against the harsh wooden counter until a short, withered man with startlingly bright eyes arrived in the room. On seeing him, the man's eyes widened in their wrinkled brown sockets and he backed away slowly. Abandoning social niceties such as privacy, Seeker jumped effortlessly over the tall bench and pinned the small man against the bare wall.

"What's this, then?" he sniffed the man's collar and neck. "Smells like you've been dealing souls again." Seeker's cold black eyes glared into the man's overly bright ones. He closed them, wincing back against the wall. "Lucky for you," Seeker continued, "that I'm not here to bust you today. Your supplier is sadly out of stock at the moment, so I'm not overly worried about that. What I do want, however, is something that I'm sure you're willing to give me." The man had opened his eyes hesitatingly, still cringed against the wall.

"What's that?" he whimpered, unwilling to move his body into a more comfortable position with Seeker still pressed against him. His eyes were beginning to fill with tears and he was shaking. Seeker smiled a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Information." He stood against the man for a moment longer, smiling malevolently into his face, before he stepped back and allowed the man to stand on his own two feet. The wrinkled little man shivered violently for a moment, before the quivering slid out to his extremities. 

"What can I help you with?" he asked sarcastically, knowing that he had no choice in the matter. He bowed to the tall dark-haired man.

"I need to know where the Blackhawks' Nest is." Seeker kept his ebony eyes fixed on the man, gauging his every reaction. The little man's phosphorate eyes snapped to Seeker's own, before sliding off to gaze out the window. His arms clenched around his body, his knees were locked to keep them from shaking. Seeker was a patient man and let the little wrinkled man have his distance. 

"Fifteen Signet Avenue, Wellford. It's a mansion, ivy covered granite walls. Every single Blackhawk lives in that compound. You've no hope of getting out of there alive if you're going to take what doesn't belong to you." The man's eyes looked up at Seeker, but he just smiled his intimidating smile again, placed two gold coins on the bench top as he walked out, slamming the door behind him and jarring the bell into the silence. 

"Signet Avenue," he shook his head in consternation. "Of course, where else would it be?" He strode into a corner and continued to mutter under his breath as he Apparated.

~*~

"Let me tell you a story, Hermione," Sarah said as she sat on the side of the bed, perched on the frame holding the water balloon inside. She shook out her rampant red curls and traced her finger down one of the marks on her face. Hermione stayed where she was. Tied up as she was, she had very little choice. Comfort was a thing of the past, it seemed. Her arms, though aching, would not be eased by any movement she was currently capable of.

"Sure," she mumbled, glaring at the back of the redhead before her. _Damn her for looking so much like her father,_ she snarled in her head. This thought made her flush deeply when Sarah began her story.

"When I was eleven, I thought that my family was the world, and that nothing could ever happen to my dad, my mum, my uncles and aunts, my cousins and brother and sister. And, for seven years, nothing did. 

"Then, after our exams and our graduation, after I went home and lived my life for a few days, I had no life anymore. 

"I got home one night, about three, after going out with my friends for dinner. We ran a bit later than we had expected, and thus, I guess I escaped. Most days I wish I had been home, even if it was to die with them. 

"I arrived home to a scene of destruction. There was nothing left of the house, and barely anything left of the people inside- my family. Everyone was home that night, for a change, except me. I doubt that they even noticed that I wasn't there. It looked like they'd just dropped a huge bomb on the house and left everyone for dead. I curled up on the site that night and cried. I haven't slept through the night since. 

"I came here- the haven of death and destruction, as my mother used to whisper whenever there was an article on them in the Daily Prophet- because I figured that death and destruction was all that I had left. Now I'll never be able to leave. These lines will fade down to invisibility for anyone who's not looking for them. My family will never even see them- the ones that are left that is. But every Blackhawk will."

Hermione had nothing to say. After a few moments of silence that stretched into the distance, Sarah stood and walked from the room. Hermione was still speechless.


	39. Chapter 38

A/N: Thanks to my beautiful reviewers, especially Mandi, who's just so damn dedicated in her reviews! Thankyou so much, it's absolutely appreciated! Oh, and I'm not so sure about the 'romance' aspect- we'll just wait and see what eventuates, shall we?

Chapter 38

"We're all ready?" Adrienne confronted the small band of enthusiasts that greeted her outside the Hogwarts gates. They respectively nodded their heads as she eyeballed each one. She nodded her head, her tightly bound hair shining in the moonlight. "Lead the way, Seeker. Where are we Apparating to?" Seeker grinned showing maybe a little too much tooth. 

"Signet Avenue. Grab hands in a circle, and I'll lead us." The group reached out and clasped hands- some reluctantly, it must be admitted- and concentrated. They saw a picture of an elegant, paved road with beautiful houses on either side of the road. Then there was a quiet hush in their minds, and a gentle tickling on their fingertips as they were whisked through nothingness and deposited at the destination they had envisaged.

"Good work, Seeker," Adrienne whispered. "Where to now?" She crouched instinctively, remanent of her many years of sneaking at Hogwarts. Seeker turned and beckoned the others to follow him. They snuck down the road, through bushes and over walls. Finally they arrived at a high stone wall, covered entirely in ivy. 

"What now?" Adrienne hissed at Seeker, who was standing tall with his head cocked, listening. He waved a hand at her to keep her silent. After a long time, he nodded and began to climb the wall. Adrienne just shook her head and followed, pulling herself up to the top of the tall wall on slightly protesting arms. Some ivy splintered under her weight, but most of it had been growing there for longer than she had been alive, and bore her weight as it bore the years. Soon they were all perched on the top of the wall. Seeker sniffed the air, looked intently at the dark mansion, and eventually began to skulk down the other side of the wall. Lianna and Draco began to chant softly under their breaths. Adrienne considered asking them what they were doing, but decided against it. 

  


They scrambled down into the yard, all silent. Their eyes glanced at each other warily, trying to communicate without words. Seeker turned to lead them through the carefully cultured garden. The turf under their feet cushioned their footfalls so that the only sound to mark their passage was the quiet drawing and exhaling of breath. The darkness covered and carried them.

When they reached the door, however, Seeker turned them aside and led them down a path beside the house. They reached a window, but he didn't look through it with anything more than a cursory glance. What he was looking at was the window on the next floor up. From that window peered a pair of eyes surrounded by fuzzy brown hair. 

~*~

"I think it's safe for you to be untied now," Kirati had said, untying her feet first, then her hands. Hermione had rubbed her hands and feet in consternation, feeling the sharp pins and needles of blood being restored to their capillaries. 

"Thanks, ever so," she had muttered. Kirati seemed to ignore this, however.

"I think it's time for me to tell you the story of your friend Kate." She announced in a sad, withdrawn voice. She began the story, leaving Hermione to catch hold of the thread of her story and ride. When she had finished, Hermione's face was aghast; her mouth open, eyes wide.

"She really did that? Why did you let her go?"

"Well, I had given my word. Word is deed, to Blackhawks. I wasn't about to lower myself, if she was a backstabber, to her level. I did, however, bide my time. You just happened to get in the way of a blood-war."

"Why did you leave it for so long?" Hermione knew that her mouth was not very pretty when open like it was, but she couldn't for the life of her manage to get it closed. There seemed to be some electrostatic repulsion between her top and bottom jaws.

"I wanted to make sure that it wasn't revenge- that it was justice. I had to wait for the feelings to fade. I wanted to act, not react. I hated that about my parents- they never took the initiative. They were sitting ducks; they knew what was going on, but didn't seem to care. They wouldn't do anything until something happened to them. Something did happen to them- by then it was too late to act, however. I never wanted to be like that." Kirati stopped and looked bashfully at Hermione. "Sorry about the babbling, there. I don't normally have a captive audience." She smiled wistfully at her pun.

Hermione somehow found the energy to push her jaws together. "Oh," was about all she could manage. "I guess that explains the Blackhawks."

"Not really," Kirati answered, more than willing to expand on the fruit of her labours. "The Blackhawks are an army of invisible warriors intent on justice. Aurors don't even infringe on us- we are absolute. We do collect evidence, but we also get paid. We could be assassins- or we could be justice-seekers. It's all about perspective. I mean, light and dark are equal opposites- who is there to say that one overcomes the other? There are equal amounts of day and night over the year; there is sunrise and sunset; light overcomes the darkness, but the darkness endures the light. Even in midday light there are shadows; even in midnight darkness there are the stars. In the bright light of day, Blackhawks exist; even in midnight darkness Aurors roam. We aren't mutually exclusive, nor even opposites. We just have different aims. Aurors serve to make the public safe; we seek justice for individuals. We can't really even exist without the Aurors; but they couldn't exist without us either." Kirati smiled at Hermione. "Perhaps I could convert you?"

Hermione laughed. "I'm not even a very good Auror anymore. I've been a teacher for too long. I've grown to used to thinking, and not doing. I'm too world-weary to even accept the notion of true justice." Hermione could see a sparkle in Kirati's eye, but she couldn't identify it.

"Why did you destroy the Death Eaters?" she asked, curious it seemed, yet with an edge to her voice that told Hermione to be very careful about her answer.

"They ruined so many good people," she eventually said, after a few long moments of consideration. "And when I arrived under cover, they raped me repeatedly. After that, I was so violated and angry that I even threw away the notion of capturing them, and just let my fury loose. I was barely aware of myself. When I realised who I was again, it was three or four months later and I was pregnant." She looked down at the grey wool blanket that lay crumpled on the bed beside her. Kirati made a little nod with her head. 

"There's nobody you want to punish? I've realised that I like you, Hermione. If you ever need justice, come to us?" Hermione smiled a little- unsure what to make of the offer- but nodded. 

"Of course, Kirati. Would you tell me about Sarah?" Kirati narrowed her eyes a little. 

"Ok. What would you like to know? About how her parents and family were destroyed?"

"No," Hermione replied, "About how she is with these Blackhawks."

"She's safe," Kirati shrugged, her eyes skittering to the edges of the room. "She's not really close to anyone here, but she's not exactly outcast. She came to us when there was nobody else. She is family."

"But not every family is perfect," Hermione replied, before turning her head away from the woman to look out the window. The day had somehow disappeared in between the visits she had had, and now it was dark. Hermione caught a hint of movement in the garden. Kirati was about to reply, when Hermione hushed her with her hand.

"There's people out there," she said quietly, moving closer to the window. She peered out.

Down below, she caught three sets of black eyes, and two sets of identical blue eyes. Pulling back with an exclamation, Hermione turned to Kirati, saying, "We have guests. I was talking about family? Well, mine's here." With a wry smile, she opened the window and hung her head out. 

"Hello, darlings. How about you come through the front door? We'll have hot chocolate together." The shocked expressions were worth it. Kirati- who had joined Hermione at the window- sniggered at them. 

"Intrepid explorers," she commented.


	40. Chapter 39

A/N: Sorry about the time it's taking me to upload these- I've got exams coming up and so I've got to 'study'. Only a few weeks left of school, however! The end is in sight… for these creatures as for myself. Good luck to us all! Thankyou to my reviewers!

Chapter 39

Some people in the world seem to count reason as the weaker aspect of emotion. Jeremy Potter, though not conscious of this, seemed to be one of these. Having assured himself that Madame Pomfrey was far from the room, he began to set up his apparatus. Thin tapering candles lined the outer rim of the room, and circular diagrams were drawn in ivy charcoal on the floor. With dreadful certainty, he walked around the room three times in a clockwise direction, muttering under his breath. His parents' blank faces remained. Once glance at them reminded Jeremy that he needed the strength of will to go through this. Seating himself in the centre of the protective circle, he closed his eyes and let his soul wander.

~*~

Adrienne felt sheepish, sitting with her hands wrapped around a hot mug of cocoa. Nobody seemed able to meet Hermione's dancing eyes. After settling everyone, Kirati decided to initiate conversation.

"So, am I welcome to introductions?" She smiled at the five 'guests'. Hermione inclined her head and smiled at her would-be rescuers. 

"This blonde here is my daughter Lianna, and the one next to her is her father, Draco. The dark-haired girl here is Adrienne, my other daughter, and behind her is Snape, her father; and this is Seeker, who saved my life from a well-placed Devil's Snare. I think they thought to rescue me," she continued, smiling at her audience. 

"Oh, well, I guess you do need rescuing, Hermione," Kirati replied, her eyes on the still-silent five. "After all, you're not capable of handling yourself. After all- look at the rope burns you gave yourself!" Hermione glanced down at her wrists and smiled wryly at the red marks on her wrists.

"Oh, I suppose, Kirati. But at least I kept my circulation going. Oh, darlings," she finally turned to Adrienne and Lianna, "What am I going to do with you?" She lunged over and hugged her daughters in a death grip. The girls fought to keep from spilling their drinks. 

"It's all right, mama. We just wanted to know if you were ok, that's all. We didn't want you to get hurt. We love you, is all," Lianna spurted. Adrienne just held her mother; wondering when the roles had turned and she had become the mature one in the tiny family. After a few more moments, Hermione returned to her seat and took up her cocoa. 

"Sorry, darlings," she said gently, "I just love you too much to want you to get hurt, even if it is for me." She smiled.

"What were you going to use to rescue Hermione?" Kirati wanted to know. Snape smiled maliciously. He pulled out one of his green-gloop globes and handed it over. She took it delicately, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"Acidrain," he said to her silent question. She immediately handed it back, after nearly dropping the globe. Her face was white and her hands shook.

"You expected to use that?" she asked.

"No, but I was prepared to be prepared," he replied, some darkly humoured emotion playing in his eyes. 

Talk degenerated, after that, with conversation stretching out into the night. At around midnight, however, both Lianna and Draco doubled over and gasped for breath. 

"Damned fool, who is doing that?" Draco grated between wheezing breaths. Lianna didn't even bother to try to talk, just choked for air. Everyone else was on their feet, wondering what was going on. 

"What's happening?" Adrienne asked Draco, seeing Lianna unable to talk.

"Well," Draco started, straining himself to look up, "Someone's trying to pull our souls out of our bodies by force. You can't feel it physically because you're not so in tune as we are. Damn, damn, damn!" Draco then swivelled out of his body. Those in the room could almost see the coloured reflection of him spin out of his body. Now that he mentioned it, however, the other occupants of the room did feel a little uncomfortable. They looked at each other wonderingly, suspiciously. 

"I think we have another problem on our hands. Hasn't this turned out to be such a _wondrous_ holiday, girls?" Hermione quipped in a falsely cheered voice. 

"Just wonderful, mama," Adrienne replied, ignoring the small voice that sounded in her mind, telling her to growl at her mother for being trivial. "Let's go home, and see what there is to see." Adrienne picked up her sister, who was still wheezing, and couldn't concentrate on anything much. The others all nodded, although some did wonder when the dark-haired seventeen year old had become their 'leader'. Hermione and Kirati picked up Draco's prone form and they apparated back to Hogwarts. 

~*~

Somewhere in the middle of the dark, she could feel the call on her mind, on her soul. _Come to me,_ it said, _I'll make you whole…_

She struggled, groaned, broke free of the restraints holding her back. She flung herself down the golden pathways towards the voice, towards her destiny. Somewhere, somewhere she would be hole, just like she had always been…


	41. Chapter 40

A/N: last chapter- please don't hurt me for the ending. Thanks to all the wonderful people who've reviewed this story- I've enjoyed writing it, but all good things must come to an end. 

Chapter 40

Lianna and Draco didn't get better when they arrived at Hogwarts. Draco, it seemed, was still traversing the wild roads of the spirit, and Lianna was groaning, trying to hold onto consciousness. 

"It's like being ripped in half," she moaned, "but being alive. It's like having all your skin ripped off. It's like the shivery feeling you get when fingernails screech on blackboard, but a million times worse. It won't let go of me," and then she gritted her teeth and scrunched her eyes and couldn't say another word. 

Adrienne took her sister over to the Hospital Wing, to find Madam Pomfrey not present. She took her sister into a room of her own, and settled her into the crisp, white-sheeted bed, before going to look for Poppy.

~*~

Hermione sat down, and stood up. She walked around the room and sat down again. She stood up and decided to go somewhere, before indecision sat her down again. She growled at the feeling of fingernails being scratched down the inside of her skin, and got up to go and check on Harry. The hallways seemed to be far longer than they had been two weeks ago- stretching off into the distance, beckoning for her to run to reach the end of them faster. The itching under her skin felt like crawling bugs, burning the impression into her and making her scratch her arms until they became red. She broke the skin in a few places, leaving her fingernails stained with bloody tissue. She reached the room where Harry and his pretty wife were being kept. She could smell incense burning in the room, and rushed to the door. Her hand clasped the door handle, only to pull it back, singed by the burning metal. "What the hell?" she hissed, stepping back and pulling her wand out to hold at the ready. She opened the door by charm, jumping into the doorway, wand at the ready. What she saw there completely disarmed her. She was totally unprepared for the attack.

~*~

_He arrived too late, it seemed. There, just there, was a fading spirit- there, another. The roiling black and red aura was attached to the two bodies, making them attack in concert. He was nigh on tears when he realised one of the bodies was _hers_. He swore to himself, and began to chant under his breath, weaving figures in the air with his fingers. He cast the net of shining silver light over the two bodies, holding them in position. The spirit strained against the restraint, but could not break free. He was thankful. More than one spirit would break this bond- one needed rope made of more than one soul-stuff to hold more than one spirit. But, despite the two bodies, this spirit was one- and he recognised it. With a hiss, he realised that she must have broken free of her mutilated form to inhabit these- who invited her? With a glimpse, he answered his question: the one that now didn't exist. Damn. He'd have to do more than chain the thing- he'd have to banish it also. _

_She arrived on the spirit-plane, blinking her eyes open and rushing over, spreading her golden light over the dim landscape. _

_"Anything I can do to help?" she asked, her eyes worried, slight orange twirling delicately underneath the purple of her aura. He nodded. _

_"You remember the banishing spell we learned yesterday?" She, in turn, nodded. "Well, we have to perform it today. On this," he motioned towards the monstrosity that was bound by his silver net- though it was beginning to writhe and fight against it. She nodded with surety set in her face. _

_"Let's do it. Now," she added with a note of frantic urgency. They linked auras, the stuff of them flowing between them- dancing together, but not mixing. They began to chant, weaving figures of light in shining silver and glistening gold, a noose of tight rope to choke the spirit. _

_"What is it?" she asked in her mind to him. _

_"It," he replied, "is what stole your soul not so long ago. Don't hate it- but use your anger to strengthen you. Hatred will make you what that is." She nodded, fury contorting her face. They formed the noose, and cast it. It slipped over the neck of the spirit, pulling it up short, pulling it up and out of the bodies, letting them flop to the ground like marionettes that had their strings cut. The red-and-black roiling beast struggled and fought, lashing out at nothingness. It spun, losing control of its shape, trying to escape the death-grip it was caught in. The noose just fitted itself to whatever shape the spirit formed. The two spirits of whom this stuff was made gritted their teeth and held on. If either failed, they would have their souls, in turn, ripped apart. It wasn't a forgiving business. _

_Finally, after what seemed like a long time, the thing stopped its lashing, and flopped until it died, turning completely black and fading into dust that dispersed on the slight breeze that always stirred on this plane. He shook his head and released the enchantment. They separated their soul-stuff from each other, becoming individual again._

_"I had hoped that nothing would ever come to that. It is a dreadful thing to take a life- a worse thing yet to kill a soul." _

_She nodded, wiping her eyes. "Better get back and clean up."_

_"No," he said, "First we find the spirits that belong in these bodies." She weakly nodded, squatting down to examine the lines stretching from both bodies. _

_"On to the search," she stated wearily. _

~*~

Adrienne came back to a scene from hell. 

In the hallway outside the room that Harry and Meredith had occupied was an unidentifiable body, chewed and torn apart. The innards were spilled across the hallway, blood splattered up the walls and on the portraits, a large pool under the body. The face was so battered as to have to discernable shape at all; the body was similar. Adrienne retched in disgust, as the smell of blood and warm flesh crawled up into her nostrils. Tears fought their way out of the corners of her eyes, burning her throat and sinuses. A second glance at the head identified the matted substance at the top of the head as hair- her _mother's_ hair, her mind screamed. The tears of disgust that had been issuing from her eyes gave way to wailing sobs that tore out of her body from the very depths of her soul. She shuffled over on her knees to the body, messing the blood onto her knees and robes, and waved her hands around in frantic indecision over the body. When she finally tore her eyes from her mother's horrid end, she saw more scenes from hell inside the room. 

The doorframe was painted in blood, in an obscene parody of the blood of Passover. The angel of death had obviously already visited here. Inside, there were candles lining the entire outer range of the room, and circles drawn on the floor in charcoal. In the middle was another torn form- this one had not escaped so lightly as her mother. It was dismembered, torn limb from limb, and these appeared to have been used as paintbrushes on the walls and floor. Blood was splattered everywhere, and intestines- small and large- were strewn in bloody patterns across the bed. The head was almost intact, however, and the glassy blue eyes stared out at her, pleading something unfathomable. She was vaguely aware of deep, keening wails emanating from somewhere, and after a while, she realised that they were hers. After what felt like forever, but must have only been moments, she roused others- Poppy came back, and promptly suffered the same fate as Adrienne had, falling to her knees and wailing, ruining her starched white linen uniform forever. 

Lianna roused herself to the sound of two voices screaming loudly- panic and despair she identified. She got up from the bed of clean, crisp sheets and padded on unwilling feet to the door. She walked out into the corridor, past the two slumped bodies of Harry and Meredith- covered in blood that was drying in their hair and on their skin. They were blissfully unconscious. Lianna could feel horror bubbling up as bile in her throat. She rounded the corner to see Poppy facing her, blood soaking up the white linen of her uniform and matching the redness of her eyes and face. Facing away from her was her sister- with blood smeared all over her hands, arms, hair, clothes. Draco rounded the opposite corner as she did- with a similar reaction. They froze, looked at each other, were unable to move from where they were. A cold feeling crept up from her extremities, making her shiver and clutch her arms to herself in a vain attempt to warm herself against a purely spiritual feeling. Draco's eyes were cold- he had seen Hermione's soul fading, had known she was dead- had not expected her to have died in such a horrific fashion. 

~*~

The cries echoed through the hallways, all the way down to the dungeons. Snape heard them, picked his head up. He placed the rest of his supplies- that he had not really needed, after all- on the desk, and strode quickly from the room. His pace increased as he heard that the voice screaming was his daughter's. He rushed past a stunned Minerva, who also seemed to be following the screams. He was running flat out when he rounded the corner and nearly ran into Draco. He stopped dead. Bled out on the floor was Hermione, her body so torn that it was almost unidentifiable but for the matted hair that was uniquely hers. He edged around the body, glancing into the room only briefly, before kneeling beside his daughter and burning the coldness in his chest out in tears. He grabbed one arm around Adrienne to anchor himself, and reassure her. 

Minerva arrived, as did the majority of the teachers. Kirati rounded a corner behind Lianna, her face showing shock.

"What happened?" she whispered, loathe to break the thick silence. Lianna broke from her frozenness and rushed down to her mother's rapidly cooling body to weep and wail as her sister still was- Adrienne's voice was already wavering, unused to such strenuous activity as this. Kirati could feel the uselessness of the circumstance pressing in on her. The teachers were all crowded behind Draco, who slowly stepped forward to circle behind Poppy and put an arm around his daughter also. He began to cry silently, tears streaming down his face. The wails awoke Harry and Meredith around the corner, who took one look at their desecrated selves, crawled around the corner and quickly joined the wailing. 

The cry insinuated into the very stones of the corridor, and even decades later, students crawled along the corridor with light steps, hoping not to disturb whatever it was that crawled down the back of their necks when they walked by. The story passed from fact to fable to myth, with characters made what they were not, but the moral staying true- life is worth living, but it can be snatched away by all manner of nasty things, no matter how many you've escaped before.


	42. Finale

A/N: The End.

Finale

Adrienne stepped onto the podium, took the paper from her former lecturer's hand and smiled beatifically for the photographers. In the crowd she could see her father's smiling face alongside her sister's beaming smile- matched only by _her _father's smile next to that. Adrienne experienced a pang of longing that her mother had lived to see this day, but knew that somewhere, her mother _did_ see this. She walked down into the crowd to seat herself again with her family- such as it was- laughing at their eager grins. 

"I'm so happy for you, Ri!" Lianna babbled, grabbing her sister's hands and squeezing them tightly in her own. Adrienne shook her head at Lianna's exuberance, but realised it as her most appealing factor. Adrienne's father carefully extracted his daughter's hands from her sister's, grasping them in his own for a moment before releasing her. 

"We're all proud of you, Adrienne," Draco smiled from the far seat. She just nodded, unable to speak for the tears that were collecting in her throat. She settled down into her seat, thinking of her bright future. 

Sarah Weasley sat in the seat behind them, and reached out to stroke Adrienne's hair. "You'll do well," she murmured, raising a vibrant smile from Adrienne. She whispered out a thankyou. Seeker sat next to her, and he just gave her an enigmatic smile, his eyes twinkling. Adrienne shook her head at him, before reaching over and hugging him. He laughed and pushed her back into her seat. 

_Finally,_ Adrienne thought to herself in the quietness of her mind,_ finally I'm free to live a life of my own- free to find happiness in where I find contentment. Lianna might be happy being a soul-witch for the rest of her life, but me? I'm going to make a difference in the world._

And so, she did.


End file.
